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ESOTERIC    BUDDHISM. 


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ESOTERIC    BUDDHISM. 

New  American  Edition.  With  Introduction  pre- 
pared expressly  for  it  by  the  Author.  i6mo, 
$1  25. 

THE   OCCULT   WORLD. 

Sixth  American  from  the  Fourth  English  Edi- 
tion. With  an  Introduction  written  for  the 
American  Edition  by  the  Author,  and  Appen- 
dix.    i6mo,  $1.25. 

HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN  &  CO., 
Boston  and  New  York. 


ESOTERIC    BUDDHISM 


BY 


A.  P.-  SINNETT 


PRESIDENT   OF    THE   SIMLA    ECLECTIC    THEOSOPHICAL   SOCIETY 
AUTHOR   OF   "  THE   OCCULT   WORLD  " 


BOSTON   AND   NEW   YORK 
HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN   AND   COMPANY 

1889 


Copyright,  1884, 
Br  IIOUGUTON,  MIFFLIN  &  CO. 


All  rights  reserved. 


The  Riverside  Press,  Camhriilge,  Mass.,   U.  S.  A. 
Electrotyped  and  Printed  by  II.  0.  Iloughtou  &  Company. 


PUBLISHER'S   NOTE. 


The  fifth  English  edition  of  Esoteric  Bud- 
dhism consists  of  the  text  of  the  fourth  Amer- 
ican edition,  together  with  the  larger  part  of  the 
preface  specially  furnished  by  Mr.  Sinnett  for 
the  American  edition.  He  took  the  opportunity 
afforded  by  a  new  edition,  also,  to  append  to 
some  of  the  chapters  annotations  upon  points 
calling  for  explication.  These  annotations  are 
now  added  to  the  sixth  American  edition  as  an 
appendix.  The  present  edition  therefore  cor- 
responds with  the  latest  English  edition,  and 
has  besides  matter  in  the  author's  preface  not 
incorporated  in  any  English  edition. 


INTRODUCTION   TO   THE  AMERICAN 
EDITION. 


This  book  was  written  in  the  early  part  of 
1883,  and  now  that  I  am  venturing  to  recom- 
mend it  to  public  notice  afresh  in  the  latter 
part  of  1884,  after  three  English  editions  have 
passed  through  the  press,  I  find  myself  in  pos- 
session of  much  additional  information  bearing 
on  many  of  the  problems  dealt  with.  But  I 
am  glad  to  be  able  to  say  that  such  later  teach- 
ing as  I  have  yet  received  only  reveals  incom- 
pleteness in  mv  original  conceptions  of  the  eso- 
teric doctrine,  —  no  material  error  so  far.  In- 
deed, I  am  happy  enough  to  have  received,  from 
the  great  adept  himself  from  whom  I  obtained 
my  instruction  in  the  first  instance,  the  assur- 
ance that  the  book  as  it  now  stands  is  a  sound 
and  trustworthy  statement  of  the  scheme  of 
Nature  as  understood  by  the  initiates  of  occult 
science,  which  may  have  to  be  a  good  deal  de- 
veloped in  future,  if  the  interest  it  excites  is 
keen  enough  to  constitute  an  efficient  demand 


6        INTRODUCTION  TO  AMERICAN  EDITION. 

for  further  teaching  of  this  kind  on  the  part  of 
the  world  at  hirge,  but  will  never  have  to  be 
remodeled  or  apologized  for. 

Further  than  this,  the  reception  of  the  book 
in  India  has  shown  that  the  doctrines  thus 
for  the  first  time  set  forth  in  a  coherent  and 
straightforward  Avay  are  recognized,  when  thus 
stated,  by  various  schools  of  Oriental  philoso- 
phy as  consonant  with  their  fundamental  views. 
A  Brahman  Hindoo,  writing  in  the  Indian 
magazine,  "  The  Theosophist,"  for  June,  1884, 
criticises  the  present  volume  as  departing  un- 
necessarily from  accepted  Sanskrit  nomencla- 
ture;  but  his  objection  merely  is  that  I  liave 
given  unfamiliar  names  in  some  cases  to  ideas 
which  are  already  expressed  in  Hindoo  sacred 
writings,  and  that  I  have  done  too  much  honor 
to  the  religious  system  commonly  known  as 
Buddhism,  by  representing  that  as  more  closely 
allied  with  the  esoteric  doctrine  than  an}'  other. 
"  The  popular  wisdom  of  the  majority  of  the 
Hindoos  to  this  day,"  says  my  Brahman  critic, 
"  is  more  or  less  tinged  with  the  esoteric  doc- 
trines taught  in  Mr.  Sinnett's  book,  misnamed 
*  Esoteric  Buddhism,'  while  there  is  not  a  sin- 
gle hamlet  or  village  in  the  wdiole  of  India  in 
which  people  are  not  more  or  less  acquainted 
with  the  sublime  tenets  of  the  Vedanta  philoso- 
phy. .  .  .  The  effects  of  Karma  in   the  next 


INTRODUCTION  TO  AMERICAN  EDITION.        7 

birth,  tlie  enjoyment  of  its  fruits,  good  or  evil,  in 
a  subjective  or  spiritual  state  of  existence  prior 
to  the  re-incarnation  of  the  spiritual  monad  in 
this  or  any  other  world,  the  loitering  of  the 
unsatisfied  souls  or  human  shells  in  the  earth 
(Kamaloca),  the  pralayic  and  manwantaric  pe- 
riods, .  .  .  are  not  only  intelligible  but  are  even 
familiar  to  a  great  many  Hindoos,  under  names 
different  from  those  made  use  of  by  the  author 
of  '  Esoteric  Buddhism.'  "  So  much  the  better 
from  the  point  of  view  of  Western  readers,  to 
whom  it  is  a  matter  of  indifference  whether  the 
exoteric  Hindoo  or  Buddhist  religion  is  nearest 
to  absolutely  true  spiritual  science,  which  should 
certainly  bear  no  name  that  appears  to  wed  it 
to  any  one  faith  in  the  external  world  more 
than  to  another.  All  that  we  in  the  West  can 
be  anxious  for  is  to  arrive  at  a  clear  understand- 
ing as  to  the  essential  principles  of  that  science, 
and  if  we  find  the  principles  defined  in  this 
book  claimed  by  the  cultured  representatives  of 
more  than  one  great  Oriental  creed  as  equally 
the  underlying  truths  of  their  different  systems, 
we  shall  be  all  the  better  inclined  to  believe  the 
present  exposition  of  doctrine  worth  our  atten- 
tion. 

In  regard  to  the  complaint  itself,  that  the 
teachings  here  reduced  to  an  intelligible  shape 
are  incorrectly  described  by  the  name  this  book 


8        INTRODUCTION   TO  AMERICAN  EDITION. 

bears,  I  cannot  do  better  than  quote  tbe  note 
by  which  the  editor  of  "  The  Theosophist  "  re- 
plies to  his  Brahman  contributor.  He  sa5'S: 
"  We  print  the  above  letter,  as  it  expresses,  in 
courteous  language  and  in  an  able  manner,  the 
views  of  a  large  number  of  our  Hindoo  broth- 
ers. At  the  same  time  it  must  be  stated  that 
the  name  of  '  Esoteric  Buddhism  '  was  given  to 
Mr.  Sinnett's  latest  publication,  not  because 
the  doctrine  propounded  therein  is  meant  to  be 
specially  identified  with  any  particular  form  of 
faith,  but  because  Buddhism  means  the  doc- 
trine of  the  BuddJias,  the  Wise,  i.  e.  the  Wis- 
dom Religion."  For  my  own  part  I  need  only 
add  that  I  fully  accept  and  adopt  that  explana- 
tion of  the  matter.  It  would,  indeed,  be  a  mis- 
conception of  the  design  which  this  book  is  in- 
tended to  subserve,  to  suppose  it  concerned  with 
the  recommendation,  to  a  dilettante  modern 
taste,  of  old  world  fashions  in  religious  thought. 
The  external  forms  and  fancies  of  religion  in 
one  age  may  be  a  little  purer,  in  another  age  a 
little  more  corrupt,  but  they  inevitably  adapt 
themselves  to  their  period,  and  it  would  be 
extravagant  to  imagine  them  interchangeable. 
The  present  statement  is  not  put  forward  in 
the  hope  of  making  Buddhists  from  among  the 
adherents  of  any  other  S3'Stem,  but  with  the 
view  of  conveying  to  thoughtful  readers,  as  well 


INTRODUCTION  TO  AMERICAN  EDITION.        9 

in  the  East  as  in  the  West,  a  series  of  leading 
ideas,  relating  to  the  actual  verities  of  Nature, 
and  the  real  facts  of  Man's  progress  through 
evolution,  which  have  been  communicated  to  the 
writer  in  their  present  shape  by  Eastern  phi- 
losophers, and  thus  fall  most  readily  into  an 
Oriental  mould.  But  the  value  of  these  teach- 
ings will  perhaps  be  most  fully  realized  when 
we  clearly  perceive  that  they  are  scientific  in 
their  character,  rather  than  polemical.  Spirit- 
ual truths,  if  they  are  truths,  may  evidently  be 
dealt  with  in  a  no  less  scientific  spirit  than 
chemical  reactions.  And  no  religious  feeling, 
of  w^hatever  color  it  may  be,  need  be  disturbed 
by  the  importation  into  the  general  stock  of 
knowledge  of  new  discoveries  about  the  consti- 
tution and  nature  of  Man  on  the  plane  of  his 
higher  activities.  True  religion  will  eventually 
find  a  way  to  assimilate  such  fresh  knowledge 
in  the  same  way  that  it  finally  acquiesces  in  a 
gradual  enlargement  of  knowledge  on  the  phys- 
ical plane.  •  This,  in  the  first  instance,  may 
sometimes  disconcert  notions  associated  with 
religious  belief,  —  as  geological  science  at  first 
embarrassed  biblical  chronology.  But  in  time 
men  came  to  see  that  the  essence  of  the  biblical 
statement  does  not  reside  in  the  literal  sense  of 
cosmological  passages,  and  religious  conceptions 
grew  all  the  purer  for  the  relief  thus  afforded. 


10     INTRODUCTION  TO  AMERICAN  EDITION. 

In  just  the  same  way,  when  positive  scientific 
knowledge  begins  to  embrace  a  comprehension 
of  laws  relating  to  the  spiritual  development 
of  j\Ian,  some  misconceptions  of  Nature  long 
blended  with  religion  may  have  to  give  way, 
but  still  it  will  be  found  that  the  central  ideas 
of  true  religion  have  been  cleared  up  and  bright- 
ened all  the  better  for  the  process.  Especially, 
as  such  processes  continue,  will  the  internal  dis- 
sensions of  the  religious  world  be  inevitably 
subdued.  The  warfare  of  sects  can  only  be  due 
to  a  failure  on  the  part  of  rival  sectarians  to 
grasp  fundamental  facts.  Could  a  time  come 
when  the  basic  ideas  on  which  religion  rests 
should  be  comprehended  with  the  same  cer- 
tainty with  which  we  comprehend  some  pri- 
mary physical  laws,  and  disagreement  about 
them  be  recognized  by  all  educated  people  as 
ridiculous,  then  there  would  not  be  room  for 
very  acrimonious  divergences  of  religious  senti- 
ment. Externals  of  religious  thought  would 
still  differ  in  different  climates  and  among  dif- 
ferent races,  —  as  dress  and  dietaries  differ,  — 
but  such  differences  would  not  give  rise  to  in- 
tellectual antagonism. 

Basic  facts  of  the  kind  that  must,  when  they 
come  to  be  widely  recognized  as  such,  have  a 
tendency  in  this  way  to  blend  together  super- 
ficially divergent  views,  not  to  provoke  a  trial 


INTRODUCTION  TO  AMERICAN  EDITION.     11 

of  strengtli  between  them,  are  developed,  it 
appears  to  me,  in  the  exposition  of  spiritual 
science  we  have  now  obtained  from  our  Eastern 
friends.  It  is  quite  unnecessary  for  religious 
thinkers  to  turn  aside  from  them  under  the 
impression  that  they  are  arguments  in  favor  of 
some  Eastern,  in  preference  to  the  more  gen= 
eral  Western,  creed.  If  medical  science  were  to 
discover  a  new  fact  about  Man's  body,  were  to 
unveil  some  hitherto  concealed  principle  on 
which  the  growth  of  skin  and  flesh  and  bone 
is  carried  on,  that  discovery  would  not  be  re- 
garded as  trenching  at  all  on  the  domain  of 
religion.  Would  the  domain  of  religion  be  in- 
vaded by  a  discovery,  for  example,  that  should 
go  one  step  behind  the  action  of  the  nerves, 
and  disclose  a  finer  set  of  activities  manipulat- 
ing these  as  they  manipulate  the  muscles?  At 
all  events,  even  if  such  a  discovery  might  begin 
to  reconcile  science  and  religion,  no  man  who 
allows  any  of  his  higher  faculties  to  enter  into 
his  religious  thinking  would  put  aside  a  posi- 
tive fact  of  Nature,  clearly  shown  to  be  such, 
as  hostile  to  religion.  Being  a  fact,  it  is  inevi- 
table that  it  should  fit  in  with  all  other  facts, 
and  with  religious  truth  among  the  number. 
So  with  the  great  mass  of  information  in  refer- 
ence to  the  evolution  of  Man  embodied  in  the 
present  statement.     Our  best  plan  evidently  isj 


12     INTRODUCTION  TO  AMERICAN  EDIT  10-17. 

to  ask,  before  we  look  into  the  report  I  bring 
forward,  not  whether  it  will  square  in  all  re- 
spects with  preconceived  views,  but  whether  it 
really  does  introduce  us  to  a  series  of  natural 
facts  connected  witli  the  growth  and  develop- 
ment of  Man's  higher  faculties.  If  it  does  this, 
we  may  wisely  examine  the  facts  first  in  the 
scientific  spirit,  and  leave  them  to  exercise 
whatever  effect  on  collateral  beliefs  may  be 
reasonable  and  legitimate,  later  on. 

Ramifying,  as  the  explanation  proceeds,  into 
a  great  many  side  paths,  it  will  be  seen  by 
the  readers  of  this  book  that  the  central  idea 
now  presented  to  us  completes  and  spiritualizes 
the  great  conception  of  physical  anthropology, 
which  accounts  for  the  evolution  of  Man's  body 
by  successive  and  very  gradual  improvements 
of  animal  forms  from  generation  to  generation. 
That  is  a  very  barren  and  miserable  theory,  re- 
garded as  an  all-embracing  account  of  creation  ; 
but,  properly  understood,  it  paves  the  way  for 
a  comprehension  of  the  higher  concurrent  pro- 
cess, which  is  all  the  while  evolving  the  soul  of 
Man  in  the  higher  spiritual  realms  of  existence. 
The  circumstances  under  which  tliis  is  done 
reconcile  the  evolutionary  method  with  the  in- 
stinctive craving  of  every  self-conscious  entity 
for  perpetuity  of  individual  life.  The  dis- 
jointed series  of  improving  forms  on  this  earth 


INTRODUCTION   TO  AMERICAN  EDITION.     13 

have  no  individuality,  and  the  life  of  each  in 
turn  is  a  separate  transaction  which  finds  no 
compensation  for  suffering  involved,  no  justice, 
no  fruit  of  its  efforts,  in  the  life  of  its  successor. 
It  is  possible  to  argue  on  the  assumption  of  a 
nevr  independent  creation  of  a  human  soul, 
every  time  a  new  human  form  is  produced  by 
physiological  growth,  that  in  the  after  spiritual 
state  of  such  soul  justice  ma}^  be  awarded ;  but 
then  this  conception  is  itself  at  variance  with 
the  fundamental  idea  of  evolution,  which  traces, 
or  believes  that  it  traces,  the  origin  of  each  soul 
to  the  working  of  highly  developed  matter  in 
each  case.  Nor  is  it  less  at  variance  with  the 
analogies  of  Nature,  as  these  come  under  our 
observation  ;  but  without  going  into  that,  it  is 
enough  for  the  moment  to  perceive  that  the 
theory  of  spiritual  evolution,  as  set  forth  in  the 
teaching  of  esoteric  science,  is,  at  any  rate,  in 
harmony  with  these  analogies,  while  at  the 
same  time  it  satisfactorily  meets  the  require- 
ments of  justice  and  of  the  instinctive  demand 
for  continuity  of  individual  life. 

This  theory  recognizes  the  evolution  of  the 
soul  as  a  process  that  is  quite  continuous  in 
itself,  though  carried  out  partly  through  the 
intermediation  of  a  great  series  of  dissociated 
forms.  Putting  aside,  for  the  moment,  the 
profound  metaphysics  of  the  theory  which  trace 


14     INTRODUCTION   TO  AMERICAN  EDITION. 

the  principle  of  life  from  the  original  first 
cause  of  the  Cosmos,  we  find  the  soul  as  an 
entity  emerging  from  the  animal  kingdom  and 
passing  into  the  earliest  human  forms,  without 
being  at  that  time  ripe  for  the  higher  intellec- 
tual life  with  which  the  present  state  of  hu- 
manity renders  us  familiar.  But  through  suc- 
cessive incarnations  in  forms  whose  physical 
improvement,  under  the  Darwinian  law  of 
evolution,  is  constantly  fitting  them  to  be  its 
habitations  at  each  return  to  objective  life,  it 
gradually  gathers  that  enormous  range  of  ex- 
perience which  is  summed  up  in  its  higher  de- 
velopment. In  the  intervals  between  its  physi- 
cal incarnations,  it  prolongs  and  works  out,  and 
finally  exhausts  or  transmutes  into  so  much  ab- 
stract development,  the  personal  experiences  of 
each  life.  This  is  the  clue  to  that  apparent 
difficulty  which  besets  the  cruder  form  of  the 
theory  of  re-incarnation,  which  independent 
speculation  has  sometimes  thrown  out.  Each 
man  is  unconscious  of  having  led  previous  lives, 
therefore  he  contends  that  subsequent  lives  can 
afford  him  no  compensations  for  this  one.  He 
overlooks  the  enormous  importance  of  the  in- 
tervening spiritual  condition,  in  which  he  by 
no  means  forgets  the  personal  adventures  and 
emotions  he  has  just  passed  through,  and  in 
ivhich    he    distills   them    into  so  much  cosmic 


INTRODUCTION  TO  AMERICAN  EDITION.     15 

progress.  In  the  following  pages  the  elucida- 
tion of  this  profoundly  interesting  mystery  is 
attempted,  and  it  will  be  seen  that  the  view  of 
events  now  afforded  us  is  not  only  a  solution 
of  the  problems  of  life  and  death,  but  of  many 
very  perplexing  experiences  on  the  border  land 
between  those  conditions,  —  or  rather  between 
physical  and  spiritual  life,  —  which  have  en- 
gaged attention  and  speculation  so  widely  of 
recent  years  in  most  civilized  countries. 

It  "was  time,  in  fact,  that  the  esoteric  doc- 
trine should  be  offered  to  modern  thinkers 
to  assist  them  in  grappling  with  the  enigmas 
which  the  spasmodic  operation  of  very  exalted 
spiritual  faculties  in  some  cases  —  the  manifes- 
tation of  some  extra-physical  laws  and  forces 
of  Nature  in  others  —  have  been  latterly  ac- 
cumulating on  our  hands  in  great  abundance. 
Rather,  I  imagine,  because  the  conjectures  put 
forward  to  account  for  them  were  unacceptable 
to  the  cultivated  world  at  large,  than  because 
the  occurrence  of  extra-ph3^sical  manifestations 
of  late  years  has  been  disbelieved  altogether, 
have  most  people  been  nnwilling  to  pay  close 
attention  to  such  occurrences.  Nor  is  it  neces- 
sary that  they  should  do  so  now,  in  order  to 
reach  an  intellectual  standpoint  from  which  the 
whole  range  of  possibilities  in  regard  to  com- 
munications that  may  be  established  between 


16     INTRODUCTION  TO  AMERICAN  EDITION. 

the  seen  and  the  unseen  worlds  may  be  broadly 
comprehended.  The  higher  culture  of  the  East 
has  been  concerned  with  the  investigation,  in 
its  own  congenial  retirement,  of  that  side  of  Na- 
ture, while  we  in  the  West  have  been  pushing 
forward  our  physical  civilization  to  its  present 
great  height.  Different  races  in  the  world  ad- 
vance in  this  way  along  different  lines  of  prog- 
ress ;  or,  rather, — to  state  the  idea  more  sci- 
entifically in  the  light  of  the  occult  doctrine, 
—  all  races  have  their  cyclic  progress  to  accom- 
plish, at  one  period  of  which  they  are  concerned 
with  physical  and  at  another  with  spiritual  cul- 
ture. We  of  the  white  race  in  Europe  and 
America  —  embodying  within  the  last  few  cen- 
turies one  phase  of  the  progress  of  our  sub- 
section of  humanity — have  been  concerned  al- 
most entirely,  during  the  historic  period,  with 
the  development  of  our  material  civilization. 
Our  religions,  meanwhile,  have  had  to  do  rather 
with  the  maintenance  of  spiritual  aspirations  in 
a  potential  state,  than  with  the  keen  investiga- 
tion of  the  facts  of  Nature  in  the  spiritual  re- 
gion. We  have  keenly  investigated  these  facts 
on  the  physical  plane,  for  that  was  the  proper 
function  of  our  age ;  but  all  earnestness  of  ef- 
fort on  the  part  of  Oriental  races,  in  the  mean- 
while, has  been  turned  in  another  direction. 
There,  physical  civilization  has  been  stngnant, 


INTRODUCTION  TO  AMERICAN  EDITION.     17 

material  progress  quite  unimportant,  but  spirit' 
ual  aspirations  have  been  not  merely  kept  up 
as  an  underlying  sentiment  in  people's  minds, 
—  they  have  operated  to  produce  the  greatest 
manifestations  of  activity  with  which  the  race 
has  been  concerned.  I  do  not  mean  that  the 
Indian  or  any  other  Asiatic  race  has  been  as 
active  in  writing  books  and  publishing  discov- 
eries in  spiritual  science  as  we  in  the  West 
have  been  with  the  literature  and  research  of 
physics.  That  kind  of  activity  is  itself  a  mani- 
festation of  material  civilization.  But  the  Asi- 
atic races  have  fermented  with  capacities  for 
great  spiritual  development,  and  the  conse- 
quence has  been  that  many  Eastern  people 
have  devoted  their  lives  to  spiritual  study  and 
research,  always,  of  course,  pursuing  the  meth- 
ods of  research  and  the  modes  of  life  appro- 
priate to  a  cycle  of  spiritual  progress,  —  meth- 
ods which  lead  the  student  of  —  and  still  more 
the  adept  in  —  such  science  into  seclusion  and 
secrecy. 

Probably  it  may  be  due  in  some  way  to  an 
opposite  fermentation  of  causes  in  the  East  and 
the  West  now  that  a  certain  interchancre  of 
methods  begins  to  be  possible.  I  do  not  mean 
that  the  West  is  turning  away  yet  from  ma- 
terial civilization,  nor  the  East  slackening  its 
devotion  to  spirituality,  but  we  here   are  cer- 


18     INTRODUCTION  TO  AMERICAN  EDITION. 

taiuly  readier  now  tlian  we  were  a  generation 
or  two  iigo  to  recognize  the  possibility  of  ac- 
quiring real  knowledge  of  spiritual  science,  and 
are  more  generally  impressed  with  the  neces- 
sity of  such  acquisitions.    The  East  on  the  other 
hand  has  partially  relaxed  its  hitherto  inviola- 
ble reserve.    The  important  movement  of  which 
this  little  book   is   one   outcome  constitutes  a 
double  illustration  of  the  new  tendency  at  last 
discernible.     It  is  discernible  in  several  differ- 
ent ways  to  acute  observers  who  once  possess 
themselves  of  the  key  to  what  is  going  on.    But 
it  is  only  of  that  particular  effort  in  which  my 
own  willing  services  have  been  engaged  that  I 
need  now  speak.     A  book  more  or  less,  in  this 
ocean  of  books  which  is  constantly  welling  forth 
from  active  Western  civilization,  may  seem  a 
very  small  matter ;  but  to  the  highly  conserva- 
tive devotees  of  occult  science  in  the  East,  a 
book  which  sets  forth  in  plain  language,  which 
all  who  run   may  read,  the  hitherto  secret  in- 
terpretations of  Nature's  spiritual  design  that 
have  hitherto  been  communicated  only  in  the 
deadliest  secrecy  to  students  of  long  absorption 
in  the  pursuit   of  such   teaching,  constitutes  a 
violation  of  the  old  occult  usage  which  is  quite 
bewildering  and  appalling.     As  my  Brahman 
critic   above  referred  to   points   out,  now  that 
the    esoteric   doctrine   is   once   for  all   plainly 


INTRODUCTION   TO  AMERICAN  EDITION.     19 

stated,  it  is  seen  to  be  embodied,  a  bit  here 
and  a  bit  there,  in  the  various  sacred  writings 
of  India.  But  at  the  same  time  it  was  nowhere 
stated  in  such  terms  as  to  be  comprehensible 
without  prolonged  and  special  stud3\  And  for 
the  most  part  the  doctrine,  in  so  far  as  it  was 
stated,  was  wrapped  in  allegory  that  Western 
readers  have  rarely  had.  the  patience  to  unravel. 
To  all  intents  and  purposes,  though  the  knowl- 
edge here  set  forth  is  no  new  discovery  for  those 
by  whom  it  is  now  revealed,  it  is  a  new  revela- 
tion for  the  whole  world,  —  Eastern  and  West- 
ern alike,  —  in  its  present  explicit  distinctness, 
and  has  only  been  prepared  for  in  the  West, 
but  I  trust  prepared  for  sufficiently,  by  that 
widespread  seething  interest  in  spiritual  things 
which  has  been  working  among  us  for  some 
years  past. 

This  interest  has  been  stimulated  in  various 
ways.  The  casual  occurrence  of  phenomena 
linking  our  physical  perceptions  with  the  un- 
seen world  has  kindled  an  ardent  enthusiasm 
for  inquiry  along  the  path  of  investigation  thus 
pointed  out,  but  the  laws  of  Nature  aifecting 
the  vast  realm  of  spiritual  existence  are  far  too 
complicated  to  be  discovered  from  an  observa- 
tion of  the  phenomena  of  the  relatively  nar- 
row subdivision  of  that  realm  brought  within 
our  cognizance  almost  exclusively  by  casual  and 


20      INTRODUCTION   TO  AMERICAN  EDITION. 

irregaliir  occurrences  of  the  kind  referred  to. 
It  is  only  with  the  help  of  esoteric  science  — 
the  accumulated  experience  of  a  great  school  of 
inquirers,  devoting  faculties  of  the  highest  kind, 
for  a  long    series  of  ages,  to   the   exploration 
of  spiritual  mysteries  —  that  a  sufficiently  wide 
-view  of  Nature  can  be  obtained  to  embrace  the 
apparently  disorderly  phenomena  of  the  astral 
world,  —  the  first  beyond  the  physical  frontier, 
—  in  all-sufficing  generalizations  that  cover  the 
whole  scheme  of  spiritual  evolution.    These  far- 
reaching  and  magnificent  conceptions  of  Nature 
should  not  only  recommend  themselves,  when 
properly  understood,  to  minds  that  have  shrunk 
from  crude  conclusions  based  on  the  imperfect 
data   of   modern    spiritual   observation   in  the 
West,  but  should  also  be  recognized  by  modern 
spiritualists  themselves  as  calculated  to  purify 
and    expand    their  own   doctrines,   and   guard 
them  from  liability  to  underrate  the  grandeur 
of   the   region    into   which    they   have    partly 
penetrated,   by  relying,   for  its   interpretation, 
too  confidently  on  experiences  gathered  at  its 
threshold.     For  the  theosophic  teaching,  which 
has  been  too  hastily  resented  by  some  spiritual- 
ists who  have  conceived  it  hostile  to  their  own 
acquired  knowledge,  will   be  discovered,  on  a 
closer   examination,    to    include    these   experi- 
ences, and  only  to  disconcert  some  of  the  con- 


INTRODUCTION  TO  AMERICAN  EDITION.      21 

elusions  derived  from  them.  It  must  be  re- 
membered that  my  statements  concernhig  the 
phenomena  of  Kama  loca^  —  the  astral  world, 
from  which  most  of  the  phenomena  of  spirit- 
ualism emanate,  —  have  been  the  fruit  of  my 
own  questions  and  inquiries  rather  than  a  por- 
tion of  a  carefully  adjusted  series  of  lessons  in 
occult  science,  dictated  by  professors  applying 
themselves  to  the  art  of  teaching.  That,  in- 
deed, has  been  the  way  in  which  the  whole 
body  of  exposition  which  this  book  contains 
has  been  worked  out,  and  it  naturally  follows 
that  some  parts  of  it  are  less  complete  than 
others,  and  that  none  can  be  much  better  than 
general  outlines.  In  esoteric  science,  as  in  mi- 
croscopy, the  application  of  higher  and  higher 
poAvers  will  always  continue  to  reveal  a  grow- 
ing wealth  of  detail ;  and  the  sketch  of  an  or- 
ganism that  appeared  satisfactory  enough  when 
its  general  proportions  were  first  discerned,  is 
betrayed  to  be  almost  worse  than  insufficient 
when  a  number  of  previously  unsuspected  minu- 
tiae are  brought  to  notice.  In  this  way,  while 
no  mistake  has  been  made  as  regards  any  state- 
ment actually  put  forward  in  the  following 
pages  on  the  subject  of  human  evolution  after 
death,  there  will  be  more,  I  apprehend,  to  add 
to  that  part  of  the  explanation  in  later  expan- 
sions of  it,  if  these  become  practicable,  than  to 


22     INTRODUCTION   TO  AMERICAN  EDITION. 

any  other.  The  points  which,  meanwhile,  I 
will  ask  spiritualist  readers  to  bear  in  mind 
are  especially  these  : 

1st.  It  is  already  indicated  that  the  dissolu- 
tion of  the  human  principles  after  death,  though 
one  cannot  help  speaking  of  the  process  as  one 
of  dispersion,  is  not  actually  a  mechanical  sepa- 
ration of  parts,  nor  even  a  process  analogous  to 
the  chemical  dissolution  of  a  compound  body 
into  elements  on  the  same  plane  of  matter. 
The  discussion  of  the  process  as  if  it  were  a 
mechanical  separation  was  represented  from 
the  first  as  "  a  rough  way  of  dealing  with  the 
matter,"  and  was  adopted  for  the  sake  of  em- 
phasizing the  transition  of  consciousness  from 
one  principle  to  another  which  goes  on  in  the 
astral  world  after  death.  This  transition  of 
consciousness  is,  in  fact,  the  struggle  between 
the  higher  and  lower  duad. 

2d.  The  struggle  just  referred  to  may  be 
reocarded  as  an  oscillation  of  consciousness  be- 
tween  the  two  duads ;  and  when  the  return  of 
consciousness  to  the  lower  principles,  during 
this  struggle,  is  stimulated  and  encouraged  by 
couAT-erse  with  still  living  entities  on  the  earth 
plane,  with  the  help  of  mediuraship,  the  proper 
spiritual  growth  of  the  entity  in  Kama  loca  is, 
to  that  extent, — perhaps  to  a  very  consider- 
able extent,  —  retarded.     It  is  this  considera- 


INTRODUCTION  TO  AMERICAN  EDITION.     23 

tion  whicli  may,  in  a  greater  degree  than  any 
other,  account  for  the  disapproval  with  which 
the  adepts  of  occult  science  regard  the  active 
practice  of  spiritualistic  intercourse  with  de- 
parted human  beings.  Such  intercourse,  though 
dictated  from  this  side  by  the  purest  affection, 
may  seriously  retard  and  embarrass  the  spirit- 
ual development  of  those  who  have  gone  in 
advance  of  us. 

3d.  It  is  recognized  in  the  following  pages 
that  intercourse  between  living  human  beings 
gifted  with  a  very  elevated  sort  of  mediumship, 
or  spiritual  clairvoyance,  and  departed  friends 
with  whom  they  have  been  closely  united  in 
sympatliy  during  life,  is  possible  on  the  higher 
spiritual  plane,  after  such  persons  have  passed 
through  the  struggle  of  Kama  loca  and  have 
been  completely  spiritualized.  That  intercourse 
may  be  of  a  more  subtle  kind  than  can  readily 
be  realized  by  reference  to  examples  of  inter- 
course on  the  earth  plane,  but  may  evidently 
be  none  the  less  exhilarating  to  the  higher  per- 
ceptions. 

By  dwelling  on  the  points  of  contact  between 
the  theosophic  teachings  and  the  experience  of 
the  higher  spiritualism,  I  think  it  will  be  found 
that  the  alleged  incompatibility  of  theosophy 
and  spiritualism  is  much  less  complete  than  is 
supposed.     It  is  impossible,  I  venture  to  assert. 


24     INTRODUCTION  TO  AMERICAN  EDITION. 

that  there  can  be  any  true  psychic  experience 
whicii  the  doctrines  of  theosophy  —  or,  to  speak 
more  accurately,  of  that  esoteric  science  of  which 
theosophy  is  the  study  —  will  fail  to  interpret 
and  explain.  And  if  this  partial  exposition  of 
esoteric  science  may  leave  a  good  deal  not  5^et 
explained  in  the  vast  region  of  mystery  which 
separates  death  and  re-birth,  surely  the  revela- 
tions which  are  made  here  go  far  enough  to  es- 
tablish a  good  claim  on  our  respectful  attention 
for  the  present,  so  that  some  embarrassments 
they  may  still  leave  to  trouble  our  understand- 
ing may  fairly  be  passed  to  a  suspense  account, 
while  we  await  a  further  illumination,  to  be, 
perhaps,  obtainable  hereafter. 


PREFACE   TO  THE  FIRST  EDITION. 


The  teachings  embodied  in  the  present  vol- 
ume let  in  a  flood  of  light  on  questions  con- 
nected with  Buddhist  doctrine  which  have 
deeply  perplexed  previous  writers  on  that  re- 
ligion, and  offer  the  world  for  the  first  time  a 
practical  clue  to  the  meaning  of  almost  all 
ancient  religious  symbolism.  More  than  this, 
the  esoteric  doctrine,  when  properly  under- 
stood, will  be  found  to  advance  an  overpower- 
ing: claim  on  the  attention  of  earnest  thinkers. 
Its  tenets  are  not  presented  to  us  as  the  in- 
vention of  any  founder  or  prophet ;  its  testi- 
mony is  based  on  no  written  scriptures ;  its 
views  of  Nature  have  been  evolved  by  the  re- 
searches of  an  immense  succession  of  investiga- 
tors, qualified  for  their  task  by  the  possession 
of  spiritual  faculties  and  perceptions  of  a  higher 
order  than  those  belonging  to  ordinary  human- 
ity. In  the  course  of  ages,  the  block  of  knowl- 
edge thus  accumulated,  concerning  the  origin 
of  the  world  and  of  man,  and  the  ultimate  des- 


26  PREFACE  TO  THE  FIRST  EDITION. 

tinies  of  our  race,  —  concerning  also  the  na- 
ture of  other  worlds  and  states  of  existence  dif- 
fering from  those  of  our  present  life,  —  checked 
and  examined  at  every  point,  verified  in  all 
directions,  and  constantly  under  examination 
throughout,  has  come  to  be  looked  on  by  its 
custodians  as  constituting  the  absolute  truth 
concerning  spiritual  things,  the  actual  state  of 
the  facts  regarding  vast  regions  of  vital  activ- 
ity lying  beyond  this  earthly  existence. 

European  philosophy,  whether  concerned 
with  religion  or  pure  metaphysics,  has  so  long 
been  used  to  a  sense  of  insecurity  in  specula- 
tions outrunning  the  limits  of  physical  experi- 
ment, that  absolute  truth  about  spiritual  things 
is  hardly  recognized  any  longer  by  prudent 
thinkers  as  a  reasonable  object  of  pursuit ;  but 
different  habits  of  thought  have  been  acquired 
in  Asia.  The  secret  doctrine  which,  to  a  con- 
siderable extent,  I  am  now  enabled  to  expound, 
is  regarded  not  only  by  all  its  adherents,  but 
by  vast  numbers  who  have  never  expected  to 
know  more  of  it  than  that  such  a  doctrine  ex- 
ists, as  a  mine  of  entirely  trustworthy  knowl- 
edge, from  which  all  religions  and  philosophies 
have  derived  whatever  they  possess  of  truth, 
and  with  which  every  religion  must  coincide  if 
it  claims  to  be  a  mode  of  expression  for  truth. 

This  is  a  bold  claim  indeed,  but  I  venture  to 


PREFACE   TO  THE  FIRST  EDITION.  27 

announce  the  following  exposition  as  one  of 
immense  importance  to  the  world,  because  I 
believe  that  claim  can  be  substantiated. 

I  do  not  say  that  within  the  compass  of 
this  volume  the  authenticity  of  the  esoteric 
doctrine  can  be  proved.  Such  proof  cannot 
be  given  by  any  process  of  argument;  only 
through  the  development  in  each  inquirer  for 
himself  of  the  faculties  required  for  the  direct 
observation  of  Nature  along  the  lines  indicated. 
But  his  2?rimd  facie  conclusion  may  be  deter- 
mined by  the  extent  to  which  the  views  of 
Nature  about  to  be  unfolded  may  recommend 
themselves  to  his  mind,  and  by  the  reasons 
which  exist  for  trusting  the  powers  of  observa- 
tion of  those  by  whom  they  are  communicated. 

Will  it  be  supposed  that  the  very  magnitude 
of  the  claim  now  made  on  behalf  of  the  eso- 
teric doctrine,  lifts  the  present  statement  out 
of  the  region  of  inquiry  to  which  its  title  re- 
fers, —  inquiry  as  to  the  real  inner  meaning  of 
the  definite  and  specific  religion  called  Bud- 
dhism? The  fact  is,  however,  that  esoteric 
Buddhism,  though  b}^  no  means  divorced  fi-om 
the  associations  of  exoteric  Buddhism,  must  not 
be  conceived  to  constitute  a  mere  imperium  in 
imperioy  —  a  central  school  of  culture  in  the 
vortex  of  the  Buddhist  world.  In  proportion 
as  Buddhism  retreats  into  the  inner  penetralia 


28  PREFACE  TO   THE  FIRST  EDITION. 

of  its  faith,  these  are  found  to  merge  into  the 
inner  penetralia  of   other  faiths.     The   cosmic 
conceptions,  and  the  knowledge  of  Nature  on 
which   Buddhism  not  merely  rests,  but  Avhicli 
constitute    esoteric    Buddhism,    equally   consti- 
tute esoteric  Brahmanism.      And  the  esoteric 
doctrine  is  thus  regarded  by  those  of  all  creeds 
who  are  "  enlightened  "  (in  the  Buddhist  sense) 
as  the  absolute  truth  concerning  Nature,  Man, 
the  origin   of  the  Universe,  and  the  destinies 
toward  which  its  inhabitants  are  tending.      At 
the  same  time,  exoteric  Buddhism  has  remained 
in  closer  union  with  the  esoteric  doctrine  than 
any  other  popular  religion.     An  exposition  of 
the  inner  knowledge  addressed  to  English  read- 
ers in  the  present  day,  will  thus  associate  itself 
irresistibly  with  famihar  outlines  of  Buddhist 
teaching.     It  will  certainly  impart  to  these  a 
living  meaning  they  generally  seem  to  be  w^ith- 
out,  but  all  the  more  on  this  account  may  the 
esoteric  doctrine  be  most  conveniently  studied 
in  its  Buddhist  aspect ;  one,  moreover,  which 
has  been   so  strongly  impressed  upon  it  since 
the  time  of  Gautama  Buddha,  that  though  the 
essence  of  the  doctrine  dates  back  to  a  far  more 
remote    antiquity,    the    Buddhist    coloring  has 
now   permeated    its   whole    substance.      That 
which  I  am  about  to  put  before  the  reader  zs 
esoteric  Buddhism,  and  for  European  students 


PREFACE   TO   THE  FIRST  EDITION.  29 

approaching  it  for  the  first  time,  any  other  des- 
ignation would  be  a  misnomer. 

The  statement  I  have  to  make  must  be  con- 
sidered in  its  enth'ety  before  the  reader  will  be 
able  to  comprehend  why  initiates  in  the  eso- 
teric doctrine  regard  the  concession  involved  in 
the  present  disclosure  of  the  general  outUnes 
of  this  doctrine  as  one  of  startling  magnitude. 
One  explanation  of  this  feeling,  however,  may 
be  readily  seen  to  spring  from  the  extreme 
sacredness  that  has  always  been  attached  by 
their  ancient  guardians  to  the  inner  vital  truths 
of  Nature.  Hitherto  this  sacredness  has  al- 
ways prescribed  their  absolute  concealment 
from  the  profane  herd.  And  so  far  as  that 
policy  of  concealment  —  the  tradition  of  count- 
less ages  —  is  now  being  given  up,  the  new  de- 
parture which  the  appearance  of  this  volume 
signalizes  will  be  contemplated  with  surprise 
and  regret  by  a  great  many  initiated  disciples. 
The  surrender  to  criticism,  which  may  some- 
times perhaps  be  clumsy  and  irreverent,  of  doc- 
trines which  have  hitherto  been  regarded  by 
such  persons  as  too  majestic  in  their  import  to 
be  talked  of  at  all  except  under  circumstances 
of  befitting  solemnity,  will  seem  to  them  a  ter- 
rible profanation  of  the  great  mysteries.  From 
the  European  point  of  view  it  would  be  un^ 
reasonable  to  expect  that  such  a  book  as  this 


80  PREFACE  TO    THE  FIRST  EDITION. 

can  be  exempt  from  the  usual  rough-and-tumble 
treatment  of  new  ideas ;  and  special  convictions 
or  commonplace  bigotry  may  sometimes  ren- 
der such  treatment  in  the  present  case  pecul- 
iarly inimical.  But  all  that,  though  a  matter 
of  course  to  European  exponents  of  the  doc- 
trine like  myself,  will  seem  very  grievous  and 
disgusting  to  its  earlier  and  more  regular  repre- 
sentatives. They  will  appeal  sadly  to  the  wis- 
dom of  the  time-honored  rule  which,  in  the  old 
symbolical  way,  forbade  the  initiates  from  cast- 
ing pearls  before  swine. 

Happily,  as  I  think,  the  rule  has  not  been 
allowed  to  operate  any  longer  to  the  prejudice 
of  those  who,  while  still  far  from  being  initi- 
ated, in  the  occult  sense  of  the  term,  will  prob- 
ably have  become,  by  sheer  force  of  modern 
culture,  qualified  to  appreciate  the  concession. 

Part  of  the  information  contained  in  the  fol- 
lowing pages  has  been  thrown  out  in  a  frag- 
mentary form  during  the  last  eighteen  months 
in  "  The  Theosophist,"  a  monthly  magazine, 
published  hitherto  at  Bombay,  but  now  at 
Madras,  by  the  leaders  of  tlie  Theosophical  So- 
riety.  As  almost  all  the  articles  referred  to 
have  been  my  own  writing,  I  have  not  hesi- 
tated to  weld  parts  of  them,  when  this  course 
has  been  convenient,  into  the  present  volume. 
A  certain  advantage  is  gained  by  thus  showing 


PREFACE  TO  THE  FIRST  EDITION.  31 

how  the  separate  pieces  of  the  mosaic,  as  first 
presented  to  pubUc  notice,  drop  naturally  into 
their  places  in  the  (comparatively)  finished 
pavement. 

The  doctrine  or  system  now  disclosed  in  its 
broad  outlines  has  been  so  jealously  guarded 
hitherto,  that  no  mere  literary  researches,  though 
they  might  have  currycombed  all  India,  could 
have  brought  to  light  any  morsel  of  the  infor- 
mation thus  revealed.  It  is  given  out  to  the 
world  at  last  by  the  free  grace  of  those  in  whose 
keeping  it  has  hitherto  lain.  Nothing  could  ever 
have  extorted  from  them  its  very  first  letter.  It 
is  only  after  a  perusal  of  the  present  explanations 
that  their  position  generally,  as  regards  their 
present  disclosures  or  their  previous  reticence, 
can  be  criticised  or  even  comprehended.  The 
views  of  Nature  now  put  forward  are  altogether 
unfamiliar  to  European  thinkers ;  the  policy  of 
the  graduates  in  esoteric  knowledge,  which  has 
grown  out  of  their  long  intimacy  with  these 
views,  must  be  considered  in  connection  with 
the  peculiar  bearings  of  the  doctrine  itself. 

As  for  the  circumstances  under  which  these 
revelations  were  first  foreshadowed  in  "  The 
Theosophist,"  and  are  now  rounded  off  and  ex- 
panded as  my  readers  will  perceive,  it  is  enough 
for  the  moment  to  saj^  that  the  Theosophical 
Society,  through  my  connection  with  which  the 


82  PREFACE  TO   THE  FIRST  EDITION. 

materials  dealt  with  in  this  volume  have  come 
into  my  hands,  owes  its  establishment  to  certain 
persons  who  are  among  the  custodians  of  eso- 
teric science.  The  information  poured  out  at 
last  for  the  benefit  of  all  who  are  ripe  to  receive 
it  has  been  destined  for  communication  to  the 
world  through  the  Theosophical  Society  since 
the  foundation  of  that  body,  and  later  circum- 
stances only  have  indicated  myself  as  the  agent 
through  whom  the  communication  could  be  con- 
veniently made. 

Let  me  add,  that  I  do  not  regard  myself  as 
the  sole  exponent  for  the  outer  world,  at  this 
crisis,  of  esoteric  truth.  These  teachings  are  the 
final  outcome,  as  regards  philosophical  knowl- 
edge, of  the  relations  with  the  outer  world 
which  have  been  established  by  the  custodians 
of  esoteric  truth,  through  me.  And  it  is  only 
regarding  the  acts  and  intentions  of  those  eso- 
teric teachers  who  have  chosen  to  work  through 
me,  that  I  can  have  any  certain  knowledge. 
But,  in  different  ways,  some  other  writers  are 
engaged  in  expounding  for  the  benefit  of  the 
world  —  and,  as  I  believe,  in  accordance  with  a 
great  plan,  of  which  this  volume  is  a  part  — 
the  same  truths,  in  different  aspects,  that  I  am 
commissioned  to  unfold.  A  remarkable  book, 
published  Avithin  the  last  year  or  two,  ^'  Tlie 
Perfect  Way,"  may  be  specially  mentioned,  as 


PREFACE  TO  TUE  FIRST  EDITION.  33 

showing  how  more  roads  than  one  may  lead 
to  a  mountain-top.  The  inner  inspirations  of 
"  Tlie  Perfect  Way"  appear  to  me  identical  with 
the  philosophy  that  I  have  learned.  The  sym- 
bols in  which  those  inspirations  are  clothed,  in 
my  opinion,  I  am  bound  to  add,  are  liable  to 
mislead  the  student ;  but  this  is  a  natural  con- 
sequence of  the  circumstances  under  which 
the  inner  inspiration  has  been  received.  Far 
more  important  and  interesting  to  me  than  the 
discrepancies  between  the  teachings  of  "  The 
Perfect  Way  "  and  my  own,  are  the  identities 
that  may  be  traced  between  the  cleai'  scientific 
explanations  now  conveyed  to  me  on  the  plane 
of  the  physical  intellect,  and  the  ideas  which 
manifestly  underlie  those  communicated  on  an 
altogether  different  system  to  the  authors  of 
the  book  I  mention.  These  identities  are  a 
great  deal  too  close  to  be  the  result  either  of 
coincidence  or  parallel  speculation. 

Probably  the  great  activity  at  present  of 
mere  ordinary  literary  speculation  on  problems 
lying  beyond  the  range  of  physical  knowledge, 
may  also  be  in  some  way  provoked  by  that 
policy,  on  the  part  of  the  great  custodians  of 
esoteric  truth,  of  which  my  own  book  is  cer- 
tainly one  manifestation,  and  tlie  volume  I 
have  just  mentioned,  probably  another.  I  find, 
for  example,  in  M.  Adolphe  d'Assier's  recently 


34  PREFACE   TO   THE  FIRST  EDITION. 

published  "  Essai  sur  THumanitd  Posthume," 
some  conjectures  respecting  the  destination  of 
the  higher  human  principles  after  death,  which 
are  infused  with  quite  a  startling  flavor  of 
true  occult  knowledge.  Again,  the  ardor  now 
shown  in  "  Psychical  Research,"  by  the  very 
distinguished,  highly  gifted,  and  cultivated  men 
who  lead  the  society  in  London  devoted  to  that 
object,  is,  to  my  inner  convictions, — knowing, 
as  I  do,  something  of  the  way  the  spiritual 
aspirations  of  the  world  are  silently  influenced 
by  those  whose  work  lies  in  that  dej)artment  of 
Nature,  — :  the  'obvious  fruit  of  efforts  parallel  to 
those  with  which  I  am  more  immediately  con- 
cerned. 

It  only  remains  for  me  to  disclaim,  on  behalf 
of  the  treatise  which  ensues,  any  pretension  to 
liigh  finish  as  regards  the  language  in  which  it 
is  cast.  Longer  familiarity  with  the  vast  and 
complicated  scheme  of  cosmogony  disclosed, 
will  no  doubt  suggest  improvements  in  the 
phraseology  employed  to  expound  it.  Two 
years  ago,  neither  I  nor  any  other  European 
living  knew  the  alphabet  of  the  science  here 
for  the  first  time  put  into  a  scientific  shape,  — 
or  subject,  at  all  events,  to  an  attempt  in  that 
direction,  —  the  science  of  spiritual  causes  and 
their  effects,  of  super-physical  consciousness, 
of  cosmical  evolution.     Though,  as  I  have  ex- 


PREFACE  TO    THE  FIRST  EDITION.  35 

plained  above,  ideas  had  begun  to  offer  them- 
selves to  the  world  in  more  or  less  embarrassing 
disguise  of  mystic  symbology,  no  attempt  had 
ever  been  made  by  any  esoteric  teacher,  two 
years  back,  to  put  the  doctrine  forward  in  its 
plain  abstract  purity.  As  my  own  instruction 
progressed  on  those  lines,  I  have  had  to  coin 
phrases  and  suggest  English  words  as  equiv- 
alents for  the  ideas  which  were  presented  to 
my  mind.  I  am  by  no  means  convinced  that 
in  all  cases  I  have  coined  the  best  possible 
plirases  and  hit  on  the  most  neatly  expressive 
words.  For  example,  at  the  threshold  of  the 
subject  we  come  upon  the  necessity  of  giving 
some  name  to  the  various  elements  or  attributes 
of  which  the  complete  human  creature  is  made 
up.  ''  Element "  would  be  an  impossible  word 
to  use,  on  account  of  the  confusion  that  would 
arise  from  its  use  in  other  significations ;  and 
the  least  objectionable,  on  the  whole,  seemed  to 
me  "principle,"  though  to  an  ear  trained  in  the 
niceties  of  metaphysical  expression  this  word 
will  have  a  very  unsatisfactory  sound  in  some 
of  its  present  applications.  Quite  possibly, 
therefore,  in  progress  of  time  the  Western 
nomenclature  of  the  esoteric  doctrine  ma}"  be 
greatly  developed  in  advance  of  that  I  have 
provisionally  constructed.  The  Oriental  no- 
menclature is  far  more  elaborate,  but  metaphys- 


36  PREFACE   TO   THE  FIRST  EDITION. 

ical  Sanskrit  seems  to  be  painfully  embarrassing 
to  a  translator,  —  the  fault,  my  India  friends 
assure  me,  not  of  Sanskrit,  but  of  tbe  language 
in  wliicb  they  are  now  required  to  express  the 
Sanskrit  idea.  Eventually  we  may  find  that, 
with  the  help  of  a  little  borrowing  from  familiar 
Greek  quarries,  English  may  prove  more  re- 
ceptive of  the  new  doctrine  —  or,  rather,  of  the 
primeval  doctrine  as  newly  disclosed  —  than 
has  yet  been  supposed  possible  in  the  East. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

ESOTERIC    TEACHERS. 

PAGE 

Nature  of  the  Present  Exposition.  —  Seclusion  of 
Eastern  Knowledge.  — The  Arhats  and  their  At- 
tributes. —  The  Mahatmas.  —  Occultists  generally. 

—  Isolated  Mystics.  —  Inferior  Yogis.  —  Occult 
Training.  —  The  Great  Purpose.  —  Its  Incidental 
Consequences.  —  Present  Concessions      ....    41 

CHAPTER  II. 

THE    CONSTITUTION   OF    MAN. 

Esoteric  Cosmogony.  —  Where  to  Begin. — Working 
back  from  Man  to  Universe.  —  Analysis  of  Man. 

—  The  Seven  Principles 60 

CHAPTER  III. 

THE    PLANETARY   CHAIN. 

Esoteric  Views  of  Evolution. —  The  Chain  of  Globes. 

—  Progress  of  Man  round  them.  —  The  Spiral 
Advance.  —  Original  Evolution  of  the  Globes.  — 
The  Lower  Kin";doms 75 


38  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE    WORLD    PERIODS. 

PAGE 

Uniformity  of  Nature.  —  Rounds  and  Races.  —  The 
Septenary  Law, —  Objective  and  Subjective  Lives. 

—  Total  Incarnations.  —  Former  Races  on  Earth. 

—  Periodic    Cataclysms.  —  Atlantis.  —  Lemuria. 

—  The  Cyclic  Law 94 

CHAPTER  V. 

DEVACHAN. 

Spiritual  Destinies  of  the  Ego.  —  Karma.  —  Divis- 
ion of  the  Principles  at  Death.  —  Progress  of  the 
Higher  Duad.  —  Existence  in  Devachan.  —  Sub- 
jective Progress.  —  Avitchi.  —  Earthly  Connection 
with  Devachan.  —  Devachanic  Periods     .     .     .     .121 


CHAPTER  YL 

KAMA   LOCA. 

The  Astral  Shelh  —  Its  Habitat. —Its  Nature.— 
Surviving  Impulses.  —  Elementals.  —  Mediums 
and  Shells.  —  Accidents  and  Suicides.  —  Lost  Per- 
sonalities       150 

CHAPTER  VIL 

THE    HUMAN   TIDE-WAVE. 

progress  of  the  INIain  Wave. —  Obscurations. —  Twi- 
light and  Dawn  of  Evolution.—  Our  Neighboring 


CONTENTS.  39 

PAGE 

Planets.— Gradations  of  Spirituality,— Prematurely 
Developed  Egos.  —  Intervals  of  Re-Incarnation     .171 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE    PROGRESS    OF    HUMANITY. 

The  Choice  of  Good  or  Evil.  —  The  Second  Half 
of  Evolution.  —  The  Decisive  Turning-Point.  — 
Spirituality  and  Intellect.  —  The  Survival  of  the 
Fittest.  —  The  Sixth  Sense.  —  Development  of 
the  Principles  in  their  Order.  —  The  Subsidence 
of  the  Unfit.  —  Provision  for  All.  —  The  Excep- 
tional Cases.  —  Their  Scientific  Explanation.  — 
Justice  Satisfied.  —  The  Destiny  of  Failures.  — 
Human  Evolution  Reviewed 188 


CHAPTER  IX. 

BUDDHA. 

The  Esoteric  Buddha.  —  Re-Incarnations  of  Adepts. 

—  Buddha's  Incarnation.  —  The  Seven  Buddhas 
of  the  Great  Races.  —  Avalokiteshwara.  —  Addi 
Buddha.  —  Adeptship  in  Buddha's  Time. —  San- 
karacharya. — Yedantin  Doctrines. — Tsong-ka-pa. 

—  Occult  Reforms  in  Tibet 209 


CHAPTER  X. 

NIRVANA. 

Its   Remoteness.  —  Preceding   Gradations.  —  Par- 
tial Nirvana.  —  The  Threshold  of  Nirvana.  —  Nir- 


40  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

vana. —  Para  Nirvana.  —  Buddha  and  Nirvana.  — 
Nirvana  attained  by  Adepts.  —  General  Progress 
towards  Nirvana.  —  Conditions  of  its  Attainment. 
—  Spirituality  and  Religion.  —  The  Pursuit  of 
Truth 233 

CHAPTER  XI. 

THE    UNIVERSE. 

The  Days  and  Nights  of  Brahma.  —  The  Various 
Manvantaras  and  Pralayas.  —  The  Solar  System. 
The  Universal  Pralaya.  —  Recommencement  of 
Evolution.  —  "  Creation."  —  The  Great  First 
Cause.  —  The  Eternal  Cyclic  Process      ....  246 

CHAPTER  Xn. 

THE   DOCTRINE   REVIEWED. 

Correspondences  of  the  Esoteric  Doctrine  with  Visi- 
ble Nature.  — Free  Will  and  Predestination. — 
The  Origin  of  Evil.  —  Geology,  Biology,  and  the 
Esoteric  Teaching.  —  Buddhism  and  Scholarship. 
—  The  Origin  of  all  Things.  —  The  Doctrine  as 
Distorted.  —  The  Ultimate  Dissolution  of  Con- 
sciousness.—  Transmigration. —  The  Soul  and  the 
Spirit.  —  Personality  and  Individuality.  —  Karma  265 


ESOTEEIO  BUDDHISM. 


CHAPTER  I. 

ESOTEBIC  TEACHEKS. 

The  information  contained  in  the  following 
pages  is  no  collection  of  inferences  deduced 
from  study.  I  am  bringing  to  my  readers 
knowledge  which  I  have  obtained  by  favor 
rather  than  by  effort.  It  will  not  be  found 
the  less  valuable  on  that  account ;  I  venture, 
on  the  contrary,  to  declare  that  it  will  be  found 
of  incalculably  greater  value,  easily  as  I  have 
obtained  it,  than  any  results  in  a  similar  direc- 
tion which  I  could  possibly  have  procured  by 
ordinary  methods  of  research,  even  had  I  pos- 
sessed, in  the  highest  degree,  that  which  I 
make  no  claim  to  possess  at  all,  Oriental  schol- 
arship. 

Every  one  who  has  been  concerned  with  In- 
dian literature,  and  still  more,  any  one  who  in 
India  has  taken  interest  in  talking  with  culti- 
vated natives  on  philosophical  subjects,  will  be 


42  ESOTERIC  BUDDHIS}f. 

aware  of  a  general  conviction  existing  in  the 
East  that  there  are  men  living  who  know  a 
great  deal  more  about  philosophy,  in  the  high- 
est acceptation  of  the  word,  —  the  science,  the 
true  knowledge  of  spiritual  things,  —  than  can 
be  found  recorded  in  any  books.  In  Europe 
the  notion  of  secrecy  as  applied  to  science  is  so 
repulsive  to  the  prevailing  instinct,  that  the 
first  inclination  of  European  thinkers  is  to  deny 
the  existence  of  that  which  they  so  much  dis- 
like. Bat  circumstances  have  fully  assured  me 
during  my  residence  in  India  that  the  convic- 
tion just  referred  to  is  perfectly  well  founded, 
and  I  have  been  privileged  at  last  to  receive  a 
very  considerable  mass  of  instruction  in  the 
hitherto  secret  knowledge  over  which  Oriental 
philosophers  have  brooded  silently  till  now; 
instruction  which  has  hitherto  been  only  im- 
parted to  sympathetic  students,  prepared  them- 
selves to  migrate  into  the  camp  of  secrecy. 
Their  teachers  have  been  more  than  content 
that  all  other  inquirers  should  be  left  in  doubt 
as  to  whether  there  was  anything  of  importance 
to  learn  at  their  hands. 

With  quite  as  much  antipathy  at  starting 
as  any  one  could  have  entertained  to  the  old 
Oriental  policy  in  regard  to  knowledge,  I  came 
nevertheless  to  perceive  that  the  old  Oriental 
knowledge  itself  was  a  very  real  and  important 


ESOTERIC  TEACHERS.  43 

possession.  It  may  be  excusable  to  regard  the 
high  grapes  as  soar,  so  long  as  they  are  quite 
out  of  reach  ;  but  it  would  be  foolish  to  persist 
in  that  opinion  if  a  tall  friend  hands  down  a 
bunch,  and  one  finds  them  sweet. 

For  reasons  that  will  appear,,  as  the  present 
explanations  proceed,  the  very  considerable 
block  of  hitherto  secret  teaching  this  volume 
contains,  has  been  conveyed  to  me,  not  only 
without  conditions  of  the  usual  kind,  but  to 
the  express  end  that  I  might  convey  it  in  ray 
turn  to  the  world  at  large. 

Without  the  light  of  hitherto  secret  Oriental 
knowledge,  it  is  impossible  by  any  study  of  its 
published  literature,  English  or  Sanskrit,  for 
students  of  even  the  most  scholarly  qualifica- 
tions to  reach  a  comprehension  of  the  inner 
doctrines  and  real  meaning  of  any  Oriental 
religion.  This  assertion  conveys  no  reproach 
to  the  sympathetic,  learned,  and  industrious 
writers  of  great  ability  who  have  studied  Ori- 
ental religions  generally,  and  Buddhism  espe- 
cially, in  their  external  aspects.  Buddhism, 
above  p11,  is  a  religion  which  has  enjoyed  a 
dual  existence  from  the  very  beginning  of  its 
introduction  to  the  world.  The  real  inner 
meaning  of  its  doctrines  has  been  kept  back 
from  uninitiated  students,  while  the  outer 
teachings  have  merely  presented  the  multitude 


44  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

with  a  code  of  moral  lessons,  and  a  Yelled, 
s^niibolical  literature,  hinting  at  the  existence 
of  knowledge  in  the  background. 

This  secret  knowledge,  in  reality,  long  ante- 
dated the  passage  through  earth-life  of  Gau- 
tama Buddha.  Brahnianical  philosophy,  in 
ages  before  Buddha,  embodied  the  identical 
doctrine  which  may  now  be  described  as  Eso- 
teric Buddhism.  Its  outlines  had  indeed  been 
blurred,  its  scientific  form  partially  confused, 
but  the  general  body  of  knowledge  was  already 
in  possession  of  a  select  few  before  Buddha 
came  to  deal  with  it.  Buddha,  however,  un- 
dertook the  task  of  revising  and  refreshing  the 
esoteric  science  of  the  inner  circle  of  initiates, 
as  well  as  the  morality  of  the  outer  world.  The 
circumstances  under  which  this  work  was  done 
have  been  wholly  misunderstood,  nor  would  a 
straightforward  explanation  thereof  be  intelli- 
gible without  explanations,  which  must  first  be 
furnished  by  a  survey  of  the  esoteric  science 
itself. 

From  Buddha's  time  till  now  the  esoteric  sci- 
ence referred  to  has  been  jealously  guarded  as 
a  precious  heritage  belonging  exclusively  to 
regularly  initiated  members  of  mysteriously  or- 
ganized associations.  Tliese,  so  far  as  Bud- 
dhism is  concerned,  are  the  Arahats,  or,  more 
properly,  Arhats,  referred  to  in  Buddhist  liter* 


ESOTERIC  TEACHERS.  45 

ature.  They  are  the  initiates  who  tread  the 
"  fourth  path  of  holiness,"  spoken  of  in  esoteric 
Buddhist  writings.  Mr.  Rhys  Davids,  refer- 
ring to  a  multiplicity  of  original  texts  and 
Sanskrit  authorities,  says  :  "  One  might  fill 
pages  with  the  awe-struck  and  ecstatic  praise 
which  is  lavished  in  Buddhist  writings  on  this 
condition  of  mind,  the  fruit  of  the  fourth  path, 
the  state  of  an  Arahat,  of  a  man  made  perfect 
according  to  the  Buddhist  faith."  And  then 
making  a  series  of  running  quotations  from 
Sanskrit  authorities,  he  says :  "  To  him  who 
has  finished  the  path  and  passed  beyond  sor- 
row, who  has  freed  himself  on  all  sides,  thrown 
away  every  fetter,  there  is  no  more  fever  or 
grief.  .  .  .  For  such  there  are  no  more  births, 
,  .  .  they  are  in  the  enjoyment  of  Nirvana. 
Their  old  karma  is  exhausted,  no  new  karma 
is  being  produced  ;  their  hearts  are  free  from 
the  longing  after  future  life,  and  no  new  yearn- 
ings springing  up  within  them,  they,  the  wise, 
are  extinguished  like  a  lamp."  These  passages, 
and  all  like  them,  convey  to  European  readers, 
at  all  events,  an  entirely  false  idea  as  to  what 
sort  of  person  an  Arhat  really  is,  as  to  the  life 
he  leads  while  on  earth,  and  what  he  antici- 
pates later  e»T-  But  the  elucidation  of  such 
points  may  be  postponed  for  the  moment. 
Some  further  passages  from   exoteric  treatises 


46  ESOTERIC  BUDDUISM. 

may  first  be  selected  to  show  what  an  Arhat  is 
generally  supposed  to  be. 

Mr.  Rhys  Davids,  speaking  of  Jhana  and 
Samadhi,  —  the  belief  that  it  was  possible  by 
intense  self-absorption  to  attain  supernatural 
faculties  and  powers,  —  goes  on  to  say:  "So 
far  as  I  am  aware,  no  instance  is  recorded  of 
any  one,  not  either  a  member  of  the  order, 
or  a  Brahman  ascetic,  acquiring  these  powers. 
A  Buddha  always  possessed  them;  whether 
Arahats,  as  sucJi,  could  work  the  particular 
miracles  in  question,  and  whether  of  mendicants 
only,  Araliats  or  only  Asekhas  could  do  so,  is  at 
present  not  clear."  Very  little  in  the  sources 
of  information  on  the  subject  that  have  hitherto 
been  explored  will  be  found  clear.  But  I  am 
now  merely  endeavoring  to  show  that  Bud- 
dhist literature  teems  with  allusions  to  the 
greatness  and  powers  of  the  Arhats.  For  more 
intimate  knowledge  concerning  them,  special 
circumstances  must  furnish  us  with  the  required 
explanations. 

Mr.  Arthur  Lillie,  in  "Buddha  and  Early 
Buddhism,"  tells  us :  "  Six  supernatural  fac- 
ulties were  expected  of  the  ascetic  before  he 
could  claim  the  grade  of  Arhat.  They  are 
constantly  alluded  to  in  the  Sutras  as  the  six 
supernatural  faculties,  usually  without  further 
Bpecification.  .  .  .  Man   has  a  body  composed 


ESOTERIC  TEACHERS.  47 

of  the  four  elements.  ...  In  this  transitory  body 
his  intelligence  is  enchained.  The  ascetic  find- 
ing himself  thus  confused,  directs  his  mind  to 
the  creation  of  the  Manas.  He  represents  to 
himself,  in  thought,  another  body  created  from 
this  material  body,  —  a  body  with  a  form, 
members,  and  organs.  This  body,  in  relation 
to  the  material  body,  is  like  the  sword  and  the 
scabbard,  or  a  serpent  issuing  from  a  basket  in 
which  it  is  confined.  The  ascetic  then,  purified 
and  perfected,  begins  to  practice  supernatural 
faculties.  He  finds  himself  able  to  pass  through 
material  obstacles,  walls,  ramparts,  etc. ;  he  is 
able  to  throw  his  phantasmal  appearance  into 
many  places  at  once,  ...  he  can  leave  this 
world  and  even  reach  the  heaven  of  Brahma 
himself.  .  .  .  He  acquires  the  power  of  hearing 
the  sounds  of  the  unseen  world  as  distinctly  as 
those  of  the  phenomenal  Avorld,  —  more  dis- 
tinctly, in  point  of  fact.  Also  by  the  power  of 
Manas  he  is  able  to  read  the  most  secret 
thoughts  of  others,  and  to  tell  their  characters." 
And  so  on  with  illustrations.  Mr.  Lillie  has 
not  quite  accurately  divined  the  nature  of  the 
truth  lying  behind  this  popular  version  of  the 
facts ;  but  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  quote  more 
to  show  that  the  powers  of  the  Arhats  and  their 
insight  into  spiritual  things  are  respected  by 
the  world  of  Buddhism  most  profoundly,  even 


48  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

though  the  Arhats  themselves  have  been  singu- 
larly indisposed  to  favor  the  world  with  auto- 
biographies or  scientific  accounts  of  '^  the  six 
supernatural  powers." 

A  few  sentences  from  Mr.  Hoey's  recent 
translation  of  Dr.  Oldenberg's  "Buddha:  his 
Life,  his  Doctrine,  his  Order,"  may  fall  con- 
veniently into  this  place,  and  then  we  may  pass 
on.  We  read  :  "  Buddhist  proverbial  philos- 
ophy attributes  in  innumerable  passages  the 
possession  of  Nirvana  to  the  saint  who  still 
treads  the  earth,  '-  The  disciple  who  has  put  off 
lust  and  desire,  rich  in  wisdom,  has  here  on 
earth  attained  deliverance  from  death,  the  rest, 
the  Nirvana,  the  eternal  state.  He  who  has 
escaped  from  the  trackless  hard  mazes  of  the 
Sansara,  who  has  crossed  over  and  reached  the 
shore,  self-absorbed,  without  stumbling  and 
without  doubt,  who  has  delivered  himself  from 
the  earthly  and  attained  Nirvana,  him  I  call  a 
true  Brahman.'  If  the  saint  will  even  now  put 
an  end  to  his  state  of  being,  he  can  do  so,  but 
the  majority  stand  fast  until  Nature  has  reached 
her  goal ;  of  such  may  those  words  be  said  which 
are  put  in  the  mouth  of  the  most  prominent  of 
Buddha's  disciples,  '  I  long  not  for  death ; 
I  long  not  for  life  ;  I  wait  till  mine  hour  come, 
like  a  servant  who  aw-aiteth  his  reward.'  " 

A   multiplication  of   such  quotations  would 


ESOTERIC  TEACHERS.  49 

merely  involve  the  repetition  in  various  forms 
of  exoteric  conceptions  concerning  the  Arhiits. 
Like  every  fiict  or  thought  in  Buddhism,  the 
Arhat  has  two  aspects,  that  in  which  he  is  pre- 
sented to  the  world  at  large,  and  that  in  which 
he  lives,  moves,  and  has  his  being.  In  the 
popular  estimation  he  is  a  saint  waiting  for  a 
spiritual  reward  of  the  kind  the  populace  can 
understand,  —  a  wonder-worker  meanwhile  by 
favor  of  supernatural  agencies.  In  reality  he 
is  tlie  long-tried  and  proved-worthy  custodian 
of  the  deepest  and  innermost  philosophy  of 
the  one  fundamental  religion  which  Buddha  re- 
freshed and  restored,  and  a  student  of  natural 
science  standing  in  the  very  foremost  front  of 
human  knowledge,  in  regard  not  merely  to  the 
mj^steries  of  spirit,  but  to  the  material  constitu- 
tion of  the  world  as  well. 

Arhat  is  a  Buddhist  designation.  That 
which  is  more  familiar  in  India,  where  the 
attributes  of  Arhatship  are  not  necessarily 
associated  with  professions  of  Buddhism,  is 
Mahatma.  With  stories  about  the  Mahatmas 
India  is  saturated.  The  older  Mahatmas  are 
generally  spoken  of  as  Rishis  ;  but  the  terms 
are  interchangeable,  and  I  have  heard  the  title 
Rishi  applied  to  men  now  living.  All  the  at- 
tributes of  the  Arhats  mentioned  in  Buddhist 
writings  are  described,  with  no  less  reverence, 
4 


50  ESOTERIC  BUDDniSM. 

in  Indian  literature  as  those  of  the  Mahatmas ; 
and  this  volume  might  be  readily  filled  with 
translations  of  vernacular  books,  giving  accounts 
of  miraculous  achievements  by  such  of  thera  as 
are  known  to  history  and  tradition  b}^  name. 

In  reality,  the  Arhats  and  the  Mahatmas  are 
the  same  men.  At  that  level  of  spiritual  ex- 
altation, supreme  knowledge  of  the  esoteric 
doctrine  blends  all  original  sectarian  distinc- 
tions. By  whatever  name  such  illuminati  may 
be  called,  they  are  the  adepts  of  occult  knowl- 
edge, sometimes  spoken  of  in  India  now  as  the 
Brothers,  and  the  custodians  of  the  spiritual 
science  which  has  been  handed  down  to  them 
by  their  predecessors. 

We  may  search  both  ancient  and  modern  lit- 
erature in  vain,  however,  for  any  systematic 
explanation  of  their  doctrine  or  science.  A 
good  deal  of  this  is  dimly  set  forth  in  occult 
writing  ;  but  very  little  of  this  is  of  the  least 
use  to  readers  who  take  up  the  subject  without 
previous  knowledge  acquired  independently  of 
books.  It  is  under  favor  of  direct  instruction 
from  one  of  their  numbers  that  I  am  now  en' 
abled  to  attempt  an  outline  of  the  Mahatmas' 
teaching,  and  it  is  in  the  same  w^ay  that  I  have 
picked  up  what  I  know  concerning  the  organ- 
ization to  which  most  of  them,  and  the  great- 
est, in  the  present  day  belong. 


ESOTERIC  TEACHERS.  61 

All  over  the  world  there  are  occultists  of  vari- 
ous degrees  of  eminence,  and  occult  fraternities 
even,  which  have  a  great  deal  in  common  with 
the  leading  fraternity  now  establislied  in  Tibet. 
But  all  my  inquiries  into  the  subject  have  con- 
vinced me  that  the  Tibetan  Brotherhood  is 
incomparably  the  highest  of  such  associations, 
and  regarded  as  such  by  all  other  associations, 
—  worthy  of  being  looked  upon  themselves  as 
really  ''  enlightened "  in  the  occult  sense  of 
the  term.  There  are,  it  is  true,  many  isolated 
mystics  in  India  who  are  altogether  self-taught 
and  unconnected  with  occult  bodies.  Many  of 
these  will  explain  that  they  themselves  attain 
to  higher  pinnacles  of  spiritual  enlightenment 
than  the  Brothers  of  Tibet,  or  any  other  peo- 
ple on  earth.  But  the  examination  of  such 
claims  in  all  cases  I  have  encountered  would, 
I  think,  lead  any  impartial  outsider,  however 
little  qualitied  himself  by  personal  development 
to  be  a  judge  of  occult  enlightenment,  to  the 
conclusion  that  they  are  altogether  unfounded. 
I  know  one  native  of  India,  for  example,  a  man 
of  European  education,  holding  a  high  appoint- 
ment under  government,  of  good  station  in 
society,  most  elevated  character,  and  enjoying 
unusual  respect  with  sucli  Europeans  as  are 
concerned  with  him  in  official  life,  who  will 
only  accord  to  the  Brothers  of  Tibet  a  second 


52  ESOTERIC  BUDDUISM. 

place  in  tlie  world  of  spiritual  enlightenment. 
The  first  place  he  regards  as  occupied  by  one 
person,  now  in  this  world  no  longer, — his  own 
occult  master  in  life,  —  whom  he  resolutely 
asserts  to  have  been  an  incarnation  of  the 
Supreme  Being.  His  own  (my  friend's)  inner 
senses  were  so  far  awakened  by  this  Master, 
that  the  visions  of  his  entranced  state,  into 
which  he  can  still  throw  himself  at  will,  are  to 
him  the  only  spiritual  region  in  which  he  can 
feel  -interested.  Convinced  that  the  Supreme 
Being  was  his  personal  instructor  from  the  be- 
ginning, and  continues  so  still  in  the  subjective 
state,  he  is  naturally  inaccessible  to  suggestions 
that  his  impressions  may  be  distorted  by  rea- 
son of  his  own  misdirected  psycliological  de- 
velopment. Again,  the  highly  cultivated  dev- 
otees, to  be  met  with  occasionally  in  India, 
who  build  up  a  conception  of  Nature,  the  uni- 
verse, and  God  entirely  on  a  metaphysical 
basis,  and  who  have  evolved  their  systems  by 
sheer  force  of  transcendental  thinking,  will 
take  some  established  system  of  philosophy  as 
its  groundwork,  and  amplify  on  this  to  an 
extent  which  only  an  Oriental  metaphysician 
could  dream  of.  They  win  disciples  wlio  put 
implicit  faith  in  them,  and  found  their  little 
school,  which  flourishes  for  a  time  within  its 
own  limits ;  but  speculative  philosophy  of  sucli 


ESOTERIC  TEACHERS.  63 

a  kind  is  rather  occupation  for  the  mind  than 
knowledge.  Such  "Masters,"  by  comparison 
with  the  organized  adepts  of  the  highest 
brotherhood,  are  like  rowing  boats  compared 
with  oce:in  steamships,  —  helpful  conveyances 
on  their  own  native  lake  or  river,  but  not  craft 
to  whose  protection  you  can  trust  yourself  on  a 
world-wide  voyage  of  exploration  over  the  sea. 

Descending  lower  again  in  the  scale,  we  find 
India  dotted  all  over  with  Yogis  and  Fakirs,  in 
all  stages  of  self-development,  from  that  of  dirty 
savages,  but  little  elevated  above  the  gypsy  for- 
tune-tellers of  an  English  race-course,  to  men 
whose  seclusion  a  stranger  will  find  it  very  dif- 
ficult to  penetrate,  and  whose  abnormal  facul- 
ties and  powers  need  only  be  seen  or  experi- 
enced to  shatter  the  incredulity  of  the  most 
contented  representative  of  modern  Western 
skepticism.  Careless  inquirers  are  very  apt  to 
confound  such  persons  with  the  great  adepts  of 
whom  they  may  vaguely  hear. 

Concerning  the  real  adepts,  meanwhile,  I 
cannot  at  present  venture  on  any  account  of 
what  the  Tibetan  organization  is  like,  as  re- 
gards its  highest  ruling  authorities.  Those 
Mahatmas  themselves,  of  whom  some  more 
or  less  adequate  conception  may  perhaps  be 
formed  by  readers  who  will  follow  me  pa- 
tiently to  the  end,  are  subordinate  by  several 


54  ESOTERIC  BUDDniSM. 

degrees  to  the  chief  of  alL  Let  us  deal  rather 
with  the  earlier  conditions  of  occult  training, 
which  can  more  easily  be  grasped. 

The  level  of  elevation  which  constitutes  a 
man  —  what  the  outer  world  calls  a  Mahatma 
or  "  Brother "  —  is  only  attained  after  pro- 
longed and  weary  probation,  and  anxious  or- 
deals of  really  terrible  severity.  One  may  find 
people  who  have  spent  twenty  or  thirty  years 
or  more  in  blameless  and  arduous  devotion  to 
the  life-task  on  which  they  have  entered,  and 
are  still  in  the  earlier  degrees  of  chelaship,  still 
looking  up  to  the  heights  of  adeptship  as  far 
above  their  heads.  And  at  whatever  age  a  boy 
or  man  dedicates  himself  to  the  occult  career, 
he  dedicates  himself  to  it,  be  it  remembered, 
without  any  reservations  and  for  life.  The  task 
he  undertakes  is  the  development  in  himself  of 
a  great  man}^  faculties  and  attributes  which  are 
so  utterly  dormant  in  ordinary  mankind,  that 
their  very  existence  is  unsuspected,  the  possi- 
bility of  their  development  denied.  And  these 
faculties  and  attributes  must  be  developed  by 
the  chela  himself,  with  very  little,  if  any,  help, 
beyond  guidance  and  direction  from  his  master. 
"  The  adept,"  says  an  occult  aphorism,  "  be- 
comes :  he  is  not  made."  One  may  illustrate 
this  point  by  reference  to  a  very  commonplace 
physical   exercise.     Every  man  living,   having 


ESOTERIC  TEACHERS.  55 

the  ordinary  use  of  his  limbs,  is  quahfied  to 
swim.  But  put  those  who,  as  the  common 
phrase  goes,  cannot  swim,  into  deep  water,  and 
they  will  struggle  and  be  drowned.  The  mere 
way  to  move  the  limbs  is  no  mystery  ;  but  un- 
less the  swimmer,  in  moving  them,  has  a  full 
belief  that  such  movement  will  produce  the 
required  result,  the  required  result  is  not  pro- 
duced. In  this  case,  we  are  dealing  with  me« 
chanical  forces  merely,  but  the  same  principle 
runs  up  into  dealings  with  subtler  forces.  Very 
much  further  than  people  generally  imagine 
will  mere  "  confidence "  carry  the  occult  neo- 
phyte. How  many  European  readers,  who 
would  be  quite  incredulous  if  told  of  some  re- 
sults which  occult  chelas  in  the  most  incipient 
stages  of  their  training  have  to  accomplish  by 
sheer  force  of  confidence,  hear  constantly  in 
church,  nevertheless,  the  familiar  biblical  as- 
surances of  the  power  which  resides  in  faith, 
and  let  the  words  pass  by  like  the  wind,  leav- 
ing no  impression. 

The  great  end  and  purpose  of  adeptship  is 
the  achievement  of  spiritual  development,  the 
nature  of  which  is  only  veiled  and  disguised 
by  the  common  phrases  of  exoteric  language. 
That  the  adept  seeks  to  unite  his  soul  with 
God,  that  he  may  thereby  pass  into  Nirvana,  is 
a  statement  that  conveys  no  definite  meaning 


56  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

to  the  ordinary  reader ;  and  tlie  more  he  ex- 
amines it  with  the  help  of  ordinary  books  and 
methods,  the  less  likely  will  he  be  to  realize 
the  nature  of  the  process  contemplated  or  of 
the  condition  desired.  It  wall  be  necessary  to 
deal  first  with  the  esoteric  conception  of  Na- 
ture, and  the  origin  and  destinies  of  Man, 
which  differ  widely  from  theological  concep- 
tions, before  an  explanation  of  the  aim  which 
the  adept  pursues  can  become  intelligible. 
Meanwhile,  however,  it  is  desirable,  at  the  very 
outset,  to  disabuse  the  reader  of  one  misconcep- 
tion in  regard  to  the  objects  of  adeptship  that 
he  may  very  likely  have  framed. 

The  development  of  those  spiritual  faculties, 
whose  culture  has  to  do  with  the  highest  ob- 
jects of  the  occult  life,  gives  rise  as  it  pro- 
gresses to  a  great  deal  of  incidental  knowledge, 
having  to  do  with  physical  laws  of  Nature  not 
yet  generally  understood.  This  know- ledge,  and 
the  practical  art  of  manipulating  certain  ob- 
scure forces  of  Nature,  which  it  brings  in  its 
train,  invest  an  adept,  and  even  an  adept's 
pupils,  at  a  comparatively  early  stage  of  their 
education,  with  very  extraordinary  powers,  the 
application  of  which  to  matters  of  daily  life 
will  sometimes  produce  results  that  seem  alto- 
gether miraculous ;  and,  from  the  ordinary 
point  of   view,  the   acquisition   of   apparently 


ESOTERIC   TEACHERS.  57 

miraculous  power  is  such  a  stupendous  acliieve- 
ment,  that  people  are  sometimes  apt  to  fancy 
the  adept's  object  in  seeking  the  knowledge  he 
attains  has  been  to  invest  himself  with  these 
coveted  powers.  It  would  be  as  reasonable  to 
say  of  any  great  patriot  of  military  history  that 
his  object  in  becoming  a  soldier  had  been  to 
wear  a  gay  uniform  and  impress  the  imagina- 
tion of  the  nurse-maids. 

The  Oriental  method  of  cultivating  knowl- 
edge has  always  differed  diametrically  from 
that  pursued  in  the  West  during  the  growth 
of  modern  science.  Whilst  Europe  has  investi- 
gated Nature  as  publicly  as  possible,  every  step 
being  discussed  with  the  utmost  freedom,  and 
every  fresh  fact  acquired  circulated  at  once 
for  the  benefit  of  all,  Asiatic  science  has  been 
studied  secretly  and  its  conquests  jealously 
guarded.  I  need  not  as  yet  attempt  either 
criticism  or  defense  of  its  methods.  But  at 
all  events  these  methods  have  been  relaxed  to 
some  extent  in  my  own  case  ;  and,  as  already 
stated,  it  is  with  £he  full  consent  of  my  teach- 
ers that  I  now  follow  the  bent  of  my  own  in- 
clinations as  a  European,  and  communicate 
what  I  have  learned  to  all  who  may  be  will- 
ing to  receive  it.  Later  ©«- it  will  be  seen  how 
the  departure  from  the  ordinary  rules  of  occult 
study  embodied  in  the  concessions  now  made, 
falls  naturally  into  its  place  in  the  whole  suheme 


58  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

of  occult  philosophy.  The  approaches  to  that 
philosophy  have  always  been  open,  in  one  sense, 
to  all.  Vaguely  throughout  the  world  in  vari- 
ous ways  has  been  diffused  the  idea  that  some 
process  of  study  which  men  here  and  there  did 
actually  follow,  might  lead  to  the  acquisition  of 
a  higher  kind  of  knowledge  than  that  taught 
to  mankind  at  large  in  books  or  by  public  relig- 
ious preachers.  The  East,  as  pointed  out,  has 
always  been  more  than  vaguely  impressed  with 
this  belief;  but  even  in  the  West  the  w^hole 
block  of  symbolical  literature  relating  to  astrol- 
ogy, alchem}^  and  mysticism  generally  has  fer- 
mented in  European  society,  carrying  to  some 
few  peculiarly  receptive  and  qualified  minds 
the  conviction  that  behind  all  this  superficially 
meaningless  nonsense  great  truths  lay  con- 
cealed. For  such  persons  eccentric  study  has 
sometimes  revealed  hidden  passages  leading  to 
the  grandest  imaginable  realms  of  enlighten- 
ment. But  till  now,  in  all  such  cases,  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  law  of  those  schools,  the  neo- 
pliyte  no  sooner  forced  his  way  into  the  region 
of  mystery,  than  he  was  bound  over  to  the  most 
inviolable  secrecy  as  to  everything  connected 
with  his  entrance  and  further  progress  there. 
In  Asia,  in  the  same  way,  the  chela,  or  pupil 
of  occultism,  no  sooner  became  a  chela  than  he 
ceased  to  be  a  witness  on  behalf  of  the  reality 
of  occult  knowledge.     I  have  been  astonished 


ESOTERIC  TEACHERS. 


59 


to  find,  since  my  own  connection  with  the  sub- 
ject, how  numerous  such  chelas  are.  But  it  is 
iuipossible  to  imagine  any  human  act  more  im- 
probable than  the  unauthorized  revelation  by 
any  such  chela,  to  persons  in  the  outer  world, 
that  he  is  one;  and  so  the  great  esoteric  school 
of  philosophy  successfully  guards  its  seclusion. 

In  a  former  book,   "The   Occult  World,"  I 
have  given  a  full  and  straightforward  narrative 
of  the  circumstances  nnder  which  I  came  in  con- 
tact with  the  gifted  and  deeply  instructed  men 
from  whom  I  have  sines  obtained  the  teaching 
this  volume  contains.     I  need  not  repeat  the 
story.     I  now  come  forward  prepared  to  deal 
with  the  subject  in  a  new  way.     The  existence 
of  occult   adepts,  and  the  importance  of  their 
acquirements,  may  be  established  along  two  dif- 
ferent lines  of  argument;  firstly,  by  means  of 
external  evidence,  —  the  testimony  of  qualified 
witnesses,  the  manifestation  by  or  through  per- 
sons connected  with  adepts  of  abnormal  facul- 
ties, affording  more  than  a  presumption  of  ab- 
normally enlarged  knowledge  ;  secondly,  by  the 
presentation  of  such  a  considerable  portion  of 
this  knowledge  as  may  convey  intrinsic  assur- 
ances  of    its  own   value.     My   first  book  pro- 
ceeded by  the  former  method ;  I  now  approach 
the   more   formidable  task  of  working  on  the 
latter. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE   CONSTITUTION   OF   MAN. 

A  SURVEY  of  cosmogony,  as  comprehended 
by  occult  science,  must  precede  any  attempt  to 
explain  the  means  by  which  a  knowledge  of 
that  cosmogony  itself  has  been  acquired.  The 
methods  of  esoteric  research  have  grown  out 
of  natural  facts,  with  which  exoteric  science  is 
wholly  unacquainted.  These  natural  facts  are 
concerned  with  the  premature  development  in 
occult  adepts  of  faculties  which  mankind  at 
large  has  not  yet  evolved ;  and  these  faculties, 
in  turn,  enable  their  possessors  to  explore  the 
mysteries  of  Nature,  and  verify  the  esoteric 
doctrines,  setting  forth  its  grand  design.  The 
practical  student  of  occultism  may  develop  the 
faculties  first,  and  apply  them  to  the  observa- 
tion of  Nature  afterwards;  but  the  exhibition 
of  the  theory  of  Nature  for  Western  readers 
merely  seeking  its  intellectual  comprehension, 
must  precede  consideration  of  the  inner  senses, 
which  occult  research  employs.  On  the  other 
hand,  a  survey  of  cosmogony,  as  comprehended 


THE  CONSTITUTION  OF  MAN.  61 

by  occult  science,  could  only  be  scientifically 
arranged  at  the  expense  of  intelligibility  for 
European  readers.  To  begin  at  the  beginning, 
we  should  endeavor  to  realize  the  state  of  the 
universe  before  evolution  sets  in.  This  subject 
is  by  no  means  shirked  by  esoteric  students; 
and  later  qb^  in  the  course  of  this  sketch,  some 
hints  ^Yill  be  given  concerning  the  views  occult- 
ism entertains  of  the  earlier  processes  through 
which  cosmic  matter  passes  on  its  way  to  evolu- 
tion. But  an  orderly  statement  of  the  earliest 
processes  of  Nature  would  embody  references 
to  man's  spiritual  constitution,  which  would 
not  be  understood  without  some  preliminary 
explanation. 

Seven  distinct  principles  are  recognized  by 
esoteric  science  as  entering  into  the  consti- 
tution of  man.  The  classification  differs  so 
widely  from  any  with  which  European  readers 
will  be  familiar,  that  I  shall  naturally  be  asked 
for  the  grounds  on  which  occultism  reaches  so 
far-fetched  a  conclusion.  But  I  must,  on  ac- 
count of  inherent  peculiarities  in  the  subject, 
which  will  be  comprehended  later  -on,  beg  for 
this  Oriental  knowledge  I  am  bringing  home  a 
hearing  (in  the  first  instance,  at  all  events)  of 
the  Oriental  kind  The  Oriental  and  the  Eu- 
ikOpean  systems  of  conveying  knowledge  are  as 
unlike  as  any  two  methods  can  be.     The  West 


62  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

pricks  and  piques  the  learner's  controversial 
instinct  at  every  step.  He  is  encouraged  to 
dispute  and  resist  conviction.  He  is  forbidden 
to  take  any  scientific  statement  on  autliorit}^ 
Pari  passuy  as  lie  acquires  knowledge,  he  must 
learn  how  that  knowledge  has  been  acquired, 
and  he  is  made  to  feel  that  no  fact  is  worth 
knowing,  unless  he  knows,  with  it,  the  way  to 
prove  it  a  fact.  The  East  manages  its  pupils 
on  a  wholly  different  plan.  It  no  more  disre- 
gards the  necessity  of  proving  its  teaching  than 
the  West,  but  it  provides  proof  of  a  wholly  dif- 
ferent sort.  It  enables  the  student  to  search 
Nature  for  himself,  and  verify  its  teachings,  in 
those  regions  which  Western  philosophy  can 
only  invade  by  speculation  and  argument.  It 
never  takes  the  trouble  to  argue  about  any- 
thing. It  says  :  ''  So  and  so  is  fact ;  here  is 
the  key  of  knowledge ;  now  go  and  see  for 
yourself."  In  this  way  it  comes  to  pass  that 
teaching  per  se  is  never  anything  else  but 
teaching  on  authority.  Teaching  and  proof 
do  not  go  hand  in  hand ;  they  follow  one  an- 
other in  due  order.  A  further  consequence  of 
this  method  is  that  Eastern  philosophy  employs 
the  method  which  we  in  the  West  have  dis- 
carded for  good  reasons  as  incompatible  with 
our  own  line  of  intellectual  development,  —  the 
Bystem  of  reasoning  from  generals  to  particu- 


TEE  CONSTITUTION  OF  MAN.  63 

lars.  Tlie  purposes  wliicli  European  science 
usually  has  in  view  would  certainly  not  be  an- 
swered by  that  plan,  but  I  think  that  any  one 
who  goes  far  in  the  present  inquiry  will  feel 
that  the  system  of  reasoning  up  from  the  de- 
tails of  knowledge  to  general  inferences  is  in- 
applicable to  the  work  in  hand.  One  cannot 
understand  details  in  this  department  of  knowl- 
edge till  we  get  a  general  understanding  of  the 
whole  scheme  of  things.  Even  to  convey  this 
general  comprehension  by  mere  language  is  a 
large  and  by  no  means  an  easy  task.  To  pause 
at  every  moment  of  the  exposition  in  order  to 
collect  what  separate  evidence  may  be  avail- 
able for  the  proof  of  each  separate  statement, 
would  be  practically  impossible.  Such  a  method 
would  break  down  the  patience  of  the  reader, 
and  prevent  him  from  deriving,  as  he  may  from 
a  more  condensed  treatise,  that  definite  concep- 
tion as  to  what  the  esoteric  doctrine  means  to 
teach,  which  it  is  my  business  to  evoke. 

The  reflection  may  suggest,  in  passing,  a  new 
view,  having  an  intimate  connection  with  our 
present  subject,  of  the  Platonic  and  Aristotelian 
systems  of  reasoning.  Plato's  system,  roughly 
described  as  reasoning  from  universals  to  partic- 
ulars, is  condemned  by  modern  habits  in  favor 
of  the  later  and  exactly  inverse  system.  But 
Plato  was  in  fetters  in  attempting  to  defend  his 


64  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

system.  There  is  every  reason  to  believe  that 
Lis  liimiliarity  with  esoteric  science  prompted 
his  method,  and  that  the  usual  restrictions  un- 
der which  he  labored,  as  an  initiated  occultist, 
forbade  him  from  saying  as  much  as  would 
really  justify  it.  No  one  can  study  even  as 
much  occult  science  as  this  volume  contains, 
and  then  turn  to  Plato,  or  even  to  any  intelli- 
gent epitome  of  Plato's  S3'stem  of  thought,  with- 
out finding  correspondences  cropping  out  at 
every  turn. 

The  higher  principles  of  the  series  which  go 
to  constitute  man  are  not  fully  developed  in  the 
mankind  with  which  we  are  as  yet  familiar, 
but  a  complete  or  perfect  man  would  be  resolv- 
able into  the  following  elements.  To  facilitate 
the  application  of  these  explanations  to  ordi- 
nary exoteric  Buddhist  writings,  the  Sanskrit 
names  of  these  principles  are  given,  as  well  as 
suitable  terms  in  English.^ 

1  The  nomenclature  here  adopted  differs  slightly  from  that  hit 
upon  when  some  of  the  present  teachings  were  tirst  given  out  in  a 
fragmentary  form  in  The  Tliensophist.  Later  on  it  will  be  seen  that 
the  names  now  preferred  embody  a  fuller  conception  of  the  whole 
system,  and  avoid  some  difficulties  to  which  the  earlier  names  give 
rise.  If  the  earlier  presentations  of  esoteric  science  were  thus  im- 
perfect, one  can  hardly  be  surprised  at  so  natural  a  consequence 
of  the  difficulties  under  which  its  English  exponents  labored.  But 
no  substantial  errors  have  to  be  confessed  or  deplored.  The  con- 
notations of  the  present  names  are  more  accurate  than  those  of  the 
phrases  first  selected,  but  the  explanations  originally  given,  as  fat 
ss  they  went,  were  quite  in  harmony  with  those  now  developed. 


TEE  CONSTITUTION  OF  MAN.  65 

1.  The  Body Rupa. 

2.  Vitality Prana,  or  Jlva. 

3.  Astral  Body Linga  Sharira. 

4.  Animal  Soul Kama  Rupa. 

5.  Human  Soul Manas. 

6.  Spiritual  Soul Buddlii. 

7.  Spirit Atma. 

Directly  conceptions  so  transcendental  as 
some  of  those  included  in  this  analj'-sis  are  set 
forth  in  a  tabular  statement,  they  seem  to  incur 
certain  degradation,  against  which,  in  endeav- 
oring to  realize  clearly  what  is  meant,  we  must 
be  ever  on  our  guard.  Certainly  it  would  be 
impossible  for  even  the  most  skillful  professor 
of  occult  science  to  exhibit  each  of  these  princi- 
ples separate  and  distinct  from  the  others,  as 
the  pliysical  elements  of  a  compound  body  can 
be  separated  by  analysis  and  preserved  inde- 
pendently of  each  other.  The  elements  of  a 
physical  body  are  all  on  the  same  plane  of  ma- 
teriality, but  the  elements  of  man  are  on  very 
different  planes.  The  finest  gases  of  Avhich 
the  body  may  to  some  extent  be  chemically 
composed  are  still,  on  one  scale  at  all  events, 
on  nearly  the  lowest  level  of  materiality.  The 
second  principle  which,  by  its  union  Avith  gross 
matter,  changes  it  from  what  we  generally  call 
inorganic,  or  what  might  more  properly  be 
called  inert,  into   living   matter,  is  at  once  a 


66  ESOTERIC  BUDDniBM. 

something  different  from  the  finest  example  of 
matter  in  its  lower  state.  Is  tlie  second  princi- 
ple, then,  anything  that  we  can  truly  call  mat- 
ter at  all  ?  The  question  lands  us,  thus,  at  the 
very  outset  of  this  inquiry,  in  the  middle  of  the 
subtle  metaphysical  discussion  as  to  whether 
force  and  matter  are  different  or  identical. 
Enough  for  the  moment  to  state  that  occult 
science  regards  them  as  identical,  and  that  it 
contemplates  no  principle  in  Nature  as  wholly 
hiimaterial.  In  this  way,  though  no  concep- 
tions of  the  universe,  of  man's  destiny,  or  of 
Nature  generally,  are  more  spiritual  than  those 
of  occult  science,  that  science  is  wholly  free 
from  the  logical  error  of  attributing  material 
results  to  immaterial  causes.  The  esoteric  doc- 
trine is  thus  really  the  missing  link  between 
materialism  and  spirituality. 

The  clue  to  the  mystery  involved  lies  of 
course  in  the  fact,  directly  cognizable  by  occult 
experts,  that  matter  exists  in  other  states  be- 
sides those  which  are  cognizable  by  the  five 
senses. 

The  second  principle  of  man.  Vitality,  thus 
consists  of  matter  in  its  aspect  as  force ;  and 
its  affinity  for  the  grosser  state  of  matter  is  so 
great  that  it  cannot  be  separated  from  any 
given  particle  or  mass  of  this,  except  by  instan- 
taneous  translation  to  some  other  particle  or 


THE  CONSTITUTION  OF  MAN.  67 

mass.  When  a  man's  body  dies,  by  desertion 
of  the  higher  principles  Avhicli  have  rendered  it 
a  living  reality,  the  second,  or  life  principle,  no 
longer  a  nnit}^  itself,  is  nevertheless  inherent 
still  in  the  particles  of  the  body  as  this  decom- 
poses, attaching  itself  to  other  organisms  to 
which  that  very  process  of  decomposition  gives 
rise.  Bury  the  body  in  the  earth,  and  its  Jiva 
will  attach  itself  to  the  vegetation  which  springs 
above,  or  the  lower  animal  forms  which  evolve 
from  its  substance.  Burn  the  body,  and  inde- 
structible Jiva  flies  back  none  the  less  instan- 
taneousl}^  to  the  body  of  the  planet  itself  from 
which  it  was  originally  borrowed,  entering  into 
some  new  combination  as  its  afiinities  may  de- 
termine. 

The  third  principle,  the  Astnil  Bod}^  or 
Linga  Sharira,  is  an  ethereal  duplicate  of  the 
physical  body,  its  original  design.  It  guides 
Jiva  in  its  work  on  the  physical  particles,  and 
causes  it  to  build  up  the  shape  which  these 
assume.  Vitalized  itself  by  the  higher  princi- 
ples, its  unity  is  only  preserved  by  the  union  of 
the  whole  group.  At  death  it  is  disembodied 
for  a  brief  period,  and,  under  some  abnormal 
conditions,  may  even  be  temporarily  visible  to 
the  external  sight  of  still  living  persons.  Under 
sucli  conditions  it  is  taken  of  course  for  the 
ghost  of  the  departed  person.     Spectral  appari- 


68  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

tions   may  sometimes    be    occasioned  in   other 
ways,  but  the  third  principle,  when  that  results 
in  a  visible  phenomenon,  is  a  mere  aggregation 
of  molecules  in  a  peculiar  state,  having  no  life 
or  consciousness  of  any  kind  whatever.     It  is 
no  more  a  being  than  any  cloud-wreath  in  tlie 
sky  which  happens  to  settle  into  the  semblance 
of  some  animal  form.     Broadly  speaking,  the 
Linga  Sharira  never  leaves  tlie  body  except  at 
death,  nor  migrates  far  from  the  body  even  in 
that  case.     When  seen  at  all,  and  this  can  but 
rarely  occur,  it  can  only  be  seen  near  where  the 
physical  body  still  lies.     In  some  very  peculiar 
cases  of  spiritualistic  mediumship,  it  may  for  a 
short  time  exude  from  the  physical  bod}^  and  be 
visible  near  it,  but  the  medium  in  such  cases 
stands  the  while  in  considerable  danger  of  his 
life.     Disturb  unwillingly  the  conditions  under 
whicli  the  Linga  Sharira  was  set  free,  and  its 
return    might  be  impeded.     The    second  prin- 
ciple wonld  then    soon    cease    to   animate   the 
physical    body  as    a    unity,    and   death   would 
ensue. 

During  the  last  year  or  two,  while  hints  and 
scraps  of  occult  science  have  been  finding  their 
Avay  out  into  the  world,  the  expression  ''  Astral 
Body  "  lias  been  applied  to  a  certain  semblance 
of  the  human  form,  fully  inhabited  by  its  higher 
principles,  which  can  migrate  to  any  distance 


THE  CONSTITUTION  OF  MAN.  69 

from  the  physical  body,  projected  consciously 
and  with  exact  intention  by  a  living  adept,  or 
unintentionally,  by  the  accidental  application 
of  certain  mental  forces  to  his  loosened  princi- 
ples, by  any  person  at  the  moment  of  death. 
For  ordinary  purposes  there  is  no  practical  in- 
convenience in  using  the  expression  "  Astra,! 
Body"  for  the  appearance  so  projected;  in- 
deed, an}^  more  strictly  accurate  expression,  as 
•will  be  seen  directly,  would  be  cumbersome, 
and  we  must  go  on  using  the  phrase  in  both 
meanings.  No  confusion  need,  arise ;  but, 
strictly  speaking,  the  Linga  Sharira,  or  third 
principle,  is  the  Astral  Body,  and  that  cannot 
be  sent  about  as  the  vehicle  of  the  higher  prin- 
ciples. 

The  three  lower  principles,  it  will  be  seen, 
are  altogether  of  the  earth,  perishable  in  their 
nature  as  a  single  entity,  though  indestructible 
as  regards  their  molecules,  and  absolutely  done 
with  by  man  at  his  death. 

The  fourth  principle  is  the  first  of  those 
wdncli  belong  to  man's  higher  nature.  The 
Sanskrit  designation,  kama  rufa.,  is  often  trans- 
hited  "  Body  of  Desire,"  which  seems  rather  a 
clumsy  and  inaccurate  form  of  words.  A  closer 
translation,  havinor  reo^ard  to  meaninirs  rather 
than  words,  would,  perhaps,  be  "  Vehicle  of 
Will,"  but   the   name   already  adopted   above. 


70  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

Animal  Soul,  may  be  more  accurately  sugges- 
tive still. 

In  "The  Theosophist "  for  October,  1881, 
when  the  first  hints  about  the  septenary  con- 
stitution of  man  were  given  out,  the  fifth  prin- 
ciple was  called  the  animal  soul,  as  contra-dis- 
tinguished from  the  sixth  or  "  spiritual  soul ;  " 
but  though  this  nomenclature  sufficed  to  mark 
the  required  distinction,  it  degraded  the  fifth 
principle,  which  is  essentially  the  human  prin- 
ciple. Though  humanity  is  animal  in  its  na- 
ture as  compared  with  spirit,  it  is  elevated 
above  the  correctly  defined  animal  creation  in 
every  other  aspect.  By  introducing  a  new 
name  for  the  fifth  principle,  we  are  enabled  to 
throw  back  the  designation  "  animal  soul "  to 
its  proper  place.  This  arrangement  need  not 
interfere,  meanwhile,  with  an  appreciation  of 
the  way  in  which  the  fou)th  principle  is  the 
seat  of  that  will  or  desire  to  which  the  Sanskrit 
name  refers.  And,  withal,  the  Kama  Rupa  is 
the  animal  soul,  the  highest  developed  principle 
of  the  brute  creation,  susceptible  of  evolution 
into  something  far  higher  by  its  union  with 
the  growing  fifth  principle  in  man,  but  still 
the  animal  soul  which  man  is  by  no  means  yet 
without,  the  seat  of  all  animal  desires,  and  a 
potent  force  in  the  human  body  as  well,  press- 
ing upward,  so  to  speak,  as  well  as  downward, 


THE  CONSTITUTION  OF  MAN.  71 

and  capable  of  influencing  the  fifth,  for  practi- 
cal purposes,  as  well  as  of  being  influenced  by 
the  fifth  for  its  own  control  and  improvement. 

The  fifth  principle,  human  soul,  or  Manas 
(as  described  in  Sanskrit  in  one  of  its  aspects), 
is  the  seat  of  reason  and  memory.  It  is  a  por- 
tion of  this  principle,  animated  by  the  fourth, 
which  is  really  projected  to  distant  places  by 
an  adept,  when  he  makes  an  appearance  in 
•what  is  commonly  called  his  astral  body. 

Now  the  fifth  principle,  or  human  soul,  in 
the  majority  of  mankind  is  not  even  yet  fully 
developed.  This  fact  about  the  imperfect  de- 
velopment as  yet  of  the  higher  principles  is 
very  important.  We  cannot  get  a  correct  con- 
ception of  the  present  place  of  man  in  Nature 
if  we  make  the  mistake  of  regarding  him  as  a 
fully  perfected  being  already.  And  that  mis- 
take would  be  fatal  to  any  reasonable  anticipa- 
tions concerning  the  future  that  awaits  him,  — 
fatal  also  to  any  appreciation  of  the  appropri- 
ateness of  the  future  which  the  esoteric  doctrine 
explains  to  us  as  actually  awaiting  him. 

Since  the  fifth  principle  is  not  yet  fully  de- 
veloped, it  goes  without  saying  that  the  sixth 
principle  is  still  in  embryo.  This  idea  has  been 
variously  indicated  in  recent  forecasts  of  the 
great  doctrine.  Sometimes,  it  has  been  said, 
we  do  not  truly  possess  any  sixth  principle,  we 


72  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

merely  have  germs  of  a  sixth  principle.  It  has 
also  been  said,  the  sixth  principle  is  not  in  us ; 
it  liovers  over  us ;  it  is  a  something  that  the 
highest  aspirations  of  our  nature  must  work  up 
toward.  But  it  is  also  said:  All  things,  not 
man  alone,  but  every  animal,  plant,  and  min- 
eral, have  their  seven  principles,  and  the  high- 
est principle  of  all  —  the  seventh  itself  —  vital- 
izes that  continuous  thread  of  life  which  runs 
all  through  evolution,  uniting  into  a  definite 
succession  the  almost  innumerable  incarnations 
of  that  one  life  which  constitute  a  complete  se- 
ries. We  must  imbibe  all  these  various  con- 
ceptions, and  weld  them  together,  or  extract 
their  essence,  to  learn  the  doctrine  of  the  sixth 
principle.  Following  the  order  of  ideas  which 
just  now  suggested  the  application  of  the  term 
animal  soul  to  the  fourth  principle  and  human 
soul  to  the  fifth,  the  sixth  may  be  called  the 
spiritual  soul  of  man,  and  the  seventh,  there- 
fore, spirit  itself. 

In  another  aspect  of  the  idea,  the  sixth  prin- 
ciple may  be  called  the  vehicle  of  the  seventh, 
and  the  fourth  the  vehicle  of  the  fifth  ;  but  yet 
another  mode  of  dealing  with  the  problem 
teaches  us  to  regard  each  of  the  higher  princi- 
ples, from  the  fourth  upwards,  as  a  vehicle  of 
what,  in  Buddhist  philosophy,  is  called  the  One 
Life  or  Spirit.     According  to  this  view  of  the 


THE  CONSTITUTION  OF  MAN.  73 

matter  the  one  life  is  that  which  perfects,  by 
inliabiting  the  various  vehicles.  In  the  animal 
the  one  life  is  concentrated  in  the  kama  rupa. 
In  man  it  begins  to  penetrate  the  fifth  princi- 
ple as  well.  In  perfected  man  it  penetrates  the 
sixth,  and  wlien  it  penetrates  the  seventh,  man 
ceases  to  be  man,  and  attains  a  wholly  superior 
condition  of  existence. 

This  latter  view  of  the  position  is  especially 
valuable  as  guarding  against  the  notion  that 
the  four  higher  principles  are  like  a  bundle  of 
sticks  tied  together,  but  each  having  individu- 
alities of  its  own  if  untied.  Neither  the  ani- 
mal soul  alone,  nor  the  spiritual  soul  alone,  has 
any  individuality  at  all;  but,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  fifth  principle  would  be  incapable  of 
separation  from  the  others  in  such  a  way,  that 
its  individuality  would  be  preserved  while  both 
the  deserted  principles  would  be  left  uncon- 
scious. It  has  been  said  that  the  finer  princi- 
ples themselves  even  are  material  and  molecu- 
lar in  their  constitution,  though  composed  of  a 
higher  order  of  matter  than  the  physical  senses 
can  take  note  of.  So  they  are  separable,  and 
the  sixth  principle  itself  can  be  imagined  as  di- 
vorcing itself  from  its  lower  neighbor.  But  in 
that  state  of  separation,  and  at  this  stage  of 
mankind's  development,  it  could  simj^ly  re-in- 
carnate itself  in  such  an  emergency,  and  grow 


74  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

a  new  fiftli  principle  by  contact  with  a  human 
organism ;  in  such  a  case,  the  fifth  principle 
would  lean  upon  and  become  one  with  the 
fourth,  and  be  proportionately  degraded.  And 
yet  this  fiftli  principle,  which  cannot  stand ^ 
alone,  is  the  personality  of  the  man  ;  and  its 
cream,  in  union  with  the  sixth,  his  continuous 
individuality  through  successive  lives. 

The  circumstances  and  attractions  under  the 
influence  of  which  the  principles  do  divide  up, 
and  the  manner  in  which  the  consciousness  of 
man  is  dealt  with  then,  will  be  discussed  later 
on.  Meanwhile,  a  better  understanding  of  the 
whole  position  than  could  ensue  from  a  contin- 
ued prosecution  of  the  inquiry  on  these  lines 
now  will  be  obtained  by  turning  first  to  the 
processes  of  evolution  by  means  of  which  the 
principles  of  man  have  been  developed. 


CHAPTER  III, 

THE  PLANETARY   CHAIN. 

Esoteric  Science,  though  the  most  spirit- 
ual system  imaginable,  exhibits,  as  running 
throughout  Nature,  the  most  exhaustive  system 
of  evohition  that  the  human  mind  can  conceive. 
The  Darwinian  theory  of  evohition  is  simply 
an  independent  discovery  of  a  portion  —  unhap- 
pily but  a  small  portion  —  of  the  vast  natural 
truth.  But  occultists  know  how  to  explain 
evolution  without  degrading  the  highest  prin- 
ciples of  man.  The  esoteric  doctrine  finds  it- 
self under  no  obligation  to  keep  its  science  and 
religion  in  separate  water-tight  compartments. 
Its  theory  of  physics  and  its  theory  of  spirit- 
uality are  not  only  reconcilable  with  each 
other,  they  are  intimately  blended  together  and 
interdependent.  And  the  first  great  fact  which 
occult  science  presents  to  our  notice  in  refer- 
ence to  the  origin  of  man  on  this  globe  will  be 
seen  to  help  the  imagination  over  some  serious 
embarrassments  of  the  familiar  scientific  idea 
of  evolution.     The  evolution  of  man  is  not  a 


76  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

process  carried  out  on  this  planet  alone.  It  is 
a  result  to  which  many  worlds  in  different  con- 
ditions of  material  and  spiritual  development 
have  contributed.  If  this  statement  were 
merely  put  forward  as  a  conjecture,  it  would 
surely  recommend  itself  forcibly  to  rational 
minds.  For  there  is  a  manifest  irrationality  in 
the  commonplace  notion  that  man's  existence 
is  divided  into  a  material  beginning,  lasting 
sixty  or  seventy  years,  and  a  spiritual  remain- 
der lasting  forever.  The  irrationality  amounts 
to  absurdity  when  it  is  alleged  that  the  acts  of 
the  sixty  or  seventy  years  —  the  blundering, 
helpless  acts  of  ignorant  human  life  —  are  per- 
mitted by  the  perfect  justice  of  an  all-wise 
Providence  to  define  the  conditions  of  that 
later  life  of  infinite  duration.  Nor  is  it  less  ex- 
travagant to  imagine  that,  apart  from  the  ques- 
tion of  justice,  the  life  beyond  the  grave  should 
be  exempt  from  the  law  of  change,  progress, 
and  improvement,  which  every  analogy  of  Na- 
ture points  to  as  probably  running  through  all 
the  varied  existences  of  the  universe.  But  once 
abandon  the  idea  of  a  uniform,  unvarying,  un- 
progressive  life  beyond  the  grave,  once  admit 
the  conception  of  change  and  progress  in  that 
life,  and  we  admit  the  idea  of  a  variety  hardly 
compatible  with  any  other  hypothesis  than  that 
of  progress  through  successive  worlds.     As  we 


TEE  PLANETARY  CHAIN.  77 

have  said  before,  this  is  not  hypothesis  at  all 
for  occult  science,  but  a  fact,  ascertained  and 
verified  bej^ond  the  reach  (for  occuldsts)  of 
doubt  or  contradiction. 

The  life  and  evolutionary  processes  of  this 
planet  —  in  fact,  all  which  constitutes  it  some- 
thing more  than  a  dead  lump  of  chaotic  matter 
—  are  linked  with  the  life  and  evolutionary- 
processes  of  several  other  planets.  But  let  it 
not  be  supposed  that  there  is  no  finality  as  re- 
gards the  scheme  of  this  planetary  union  to 
which  we  belong.  The  human  imagination 
once  set  free  is  apt  sometimes  to  bound  too  far. 
Once  let  this  notion,  that  the  earth  is  merely 
one  link  in  a  mighty  chain  of  worlds,  be  fully 
accepted  as  probable,  or  true,  and  it  may  sug- 
gest the  whole  starry  heavens  as  the  heritage 
of  the  human  family.  That  idea  would  involve 
a  serious  misconception.  One  globe  does  not 
afford  Nature  scope  for  the  processes  by  which 
mankind  has  been  evoked  from  chaos,  but  these 
processes  do  not  require  more  than  a  limited 
and  definite  number  of  globes.  Separated  as 
these  are,  in  regard  to  the  gross  mechanical 
matter  of  which  they  consist,  they  are  closely 
and  intimately  bound  together  by  subtle  cur- 
rents and  forces,  whose  existence  reason  need 
not  be  much  troubled  to  concede  since  the  ex- 
istence of  some  connection  —  of  force  or  ethereal 


78  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

media  —  uniting  all  visible  celestial  bodies  is 
proved  by  the  mere  fact  that  they  are  visible. 
It  is  along  these  subtle  currents  that  the  life- 
elements  pass  from  world  to  world. 

The  fact,  however,  will  at  once  be  liable  to 
distortion  to  suit  preconceived  habits  of  mind. 
Some  readers  may  imagine  our  meaning  to  be 
that  after  death  the  surviving  soul  will  be 
drawn  into  the  currents  of  that  world  with 
which  its  affinities  connect  it.  The  real  process 
is  more  methodical.  The  system  of  worlds  is 
a  circuit  round  which  all  individual  spiritual 
entities  have  alike  to  pass;  and  that  passage 
constitutes  the  Evolution  of  Man.  For  it  must 
be  realized  that  the  evolution  of  man  is  a  proc- 
ess still  going  on,  and  by  no  means  yet  com- 
plete. Darwinian  writings  have  taught  the 
modern  world  to  regard  the  ape  as  an  ancestor, 
but  the  simple  conceit  of  AVestern  speculation 
has  rarely  permitted  European  evolutionists  to 
look  in  the  other  direction  and  recognize  the 
probability,  that  to  our  remote  descendants  we 
may  be,  as  that  unwelcome  progenitor  to  us. 
Yet  the  two  facts  just  declared  hinge  together. 
The  higher  evolution  will  be  accomplished  by 
our  progress  through  the  successive  worlds  of 
the  system  ;  and  in  higher  forms  w^e  shall  re- 
turn to  this  earth  again  and  again.  But  the 
avenues  of  thought  through  which  we  look  for- 


THE  PLANETARY  CHAIN.  79 

ward  to  this  prospect  are  of  almost  inconceiv- 
able length. 

It  will  readily  be  supposed  that  the  chain  of 
worlds  to  which  this  earth  belongs  are  not  all 
prepared  for  a  material  existence  exactly,  or 
even  approximately  resembling  our  own.  There 
would  be  no  meaning  in  an  organized  chain  of 
worlds  which  were  all  alike,  and  might  as  well 
all  have  been  amalgamated  into  one.  In  real- 
ity the  worlds  with  which  we  are  connected 
are  very  unlike  each  other,  not  merely  in  out- 
ward conditions,  but  in  that  supreme  character- 
istic, the  proportion  in  which  spirit  and  matter 
are  mingled  in  their  constitution.  Our  own 
world  presents  us  with  conditions  in  which  spirit 
and  matter  are,  on  the  whole,  evenly  balanced 
in  equilibrium.  Let  it  not  be  supposed  on  that 
account  that  it  is  very  highly  elevated  in  the 
scale  of  perfection.  On  the  contrary,  it  occu- 
pies a  very  low  place  in  that  scale.  The  worlds 
that  are  higher  in  the  scale  are  those  in  which 
spirit  largely  predominates.  There  is  another 
world  attached  to  the  chain,  rather  than  form- 
ing a  part  of  it,  in  which  matter  asserts  itself 
even  more  decisively  than  on  earth,  but  this 
may  be  spoken  of  later. 

That  the  superior  worlds  which  man  may 
coma  to  inhabit  in  his  onward  progress  should 
gradually  become  more  and   more  spiritual  in 


80  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

their  constitution — life  there  being  more  and 
more  successfully  divorced  from  gross  material 
needs  —  will  seem  reasonable  enough  at  the  first 
glance.  But  the  first  glance  in  imagination  at 
those  which  might  conversely  be  called  the  infe- 
rior, but  may  with  less  inaccuracy  be  spoken  of 
as  the  preceding  worlds,  would  perhaps  suggest 
that  they  ought  to  be  conversely  less  spiritual, 
more  material,  than  this  eai'th.  The  fact  is  quite 
the  other  way,  and  must  be  so,  it  will  be  seen  on 
reflection,  in  a  chain  of  worlds  which  is  an  end- 
less chain  —  i.e.,  round  and  round  which  the 
evolutionary  process  ti-avels.  If  that  process 
had  merely  one  journey  to  travel  along  a  path 
which  never  returned  into  itself,  one  could 
think  of  it,  at  any  rate,  as  working  from  almost 
absolute  matter,  up  to  almost  absolute  spirit ; 
but  Nature  works  always  in  complete  curves, 
and  travels  always  in  paths  which  return  into 
themselves.  The  earliest,  as  also  the  latest, 
developed  worlds — for  the  chain  itself  has 
grown  by  degrees  —  the  furthest  back,  as  also 
the  furthest  forward,  are  the  most  immaterial, 
the  most  ethereal  of  the  whole  series  ;  and  that 
this  is  in  all  ways  in  accordance  with  the  fitness 
of  things  will  appear  from  the  reflectitm  that 
the  furthest  forward  of  the  worlds  is  not  a  rc- 
gi(^n  of  finality,  but  the  stepping-stone  to  the 
furthest  back,  as  the  month  of  December  leads 


THE  PLANETARY  CHAIN.  81 

US  back  again  to  January.  But  it  is  not  a  cli- 
max of  development  from  which  the  individual 
monad  falls,  as  by  a  catastrophe,  into  the  state 
from  which  he  slowly  began  to  ascend  millions 
of  years  previously.  From  that  which,  for  rea- 
sons which  will  soon  appear,  must  be  consid- 
ered tlie  highest  world,  on  the  ascending  arc  of 
the  circle  to  tliat  which  must  be  regarded  as 
the  first  on  the  descending  arc,  in  one  sense  the 
lowest  —  z.  e.,  in  the  order  of  development  — 
there  is  no  descent  at  all,  but  still  ascent  and 
progress.  For  the  spiritual  monad  or  entity, 
which  has  worked  its  way  all  round  the  cycle 
of  evolution,  at  any  one  of  the  many  stages  of 
development  into  which  the  various  existences 
around  us  may  be  grouped,  begins  its  next  cycle 
at  the  next  higher  stage,  and  is  thus  still  ac- 
complishing progress  as  it  passes  from  world 
Z  back  again  to  world  A.  Many  times  does  it 
circle,  in  this  way,  right  round  the  system,  but 
its  passage  round  must  not  be  thouglit  of  merely 
as  a  circular  revolution  in  an  orbit.  In  the 
scale  of  spiritual  perfection  it  is  constantly  as- 
cending. Thus,  if  we  compare  the  system  of 
worlds  to  a  system  of  towers  standing  on  a 
plain  —  towers  each  of  many  stories  and  sym- 
bolizing the  scale  of  perfection  —  the  spiritual 
monad  performs  a  spiral  progress  round  and 
round  the  series,  passing  tlirough  each  tower, 


82  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

every  time  it  comes  round  to  it,  at  a  liiglier 
level  than  before. 

It  is  for  want  of  realizing  this  idea  that  spec- 
uhition,  concerned  with  physical  evolution,  is 
so  constantly  finding  itself  stopped  by  dead 
walls.  It  is  searching  for  its  missing  links  in  a 
world  where  it  can  never  find  them  now,  for 
they  were  but  required  for  a  temporary  pur- 
pose, and  have  passed  away.  Man,  says  the 
Darwinian,  was  once  an  ape.  Quite  true ;  but 
the  ape  known  to  the  Darwinian  will  never  be- 
come a  man  —  i.  e.,  the  form  will  not  change 
from  generation  to  generation  till  the  tail  dis- 
appears and  the  hands  turn  into  feet,  and  so  on. 
Ordinary  science  avows  that,  though  changes  of 
form  can  be  detected  in  progress  within  the  lim- 
its of  species,  the  changes  from  species  to  species 
can  only  be  inferred  ;  and  to  account  for  these, 
it  is  content  to  assume  great  intervals  of  time 
and  the  extinction  of  the  intermediate  forms. 
There  has  been  no  doubt  an  extinction  of  the 
intermediate  or  earlier  forms  of  all  species  (in 
the  larger  acceptation  of  the  word)  —  i.  e.,  of  all 
kingdoms,  mineral,  vegetable,  animal,  man,  etc. 
—  but  ordinary  science  can  merely  guess  that 
to  have  been  the  fact  without  realizing  the  con- 
ditions which  rendered  it  inevitable,  and  which 
forbid  the  renewed  generation  of  the  interme* 
diate  forms. 


THE  PLANETARY  CHAIN.  83 

It  is  the  spiral  character  of  the  progress  ac- 
complished by  the  life  impulses  that  develop  the 
various  kingdoms  of  Nature,  which  accounts 
for  the  gaps  now  observed  in  the  animated 
forms  whicli  people  the  earth.  Tlie  thread  of  a 
screw,  which  is  a  uniform  inclined  plane  in  real- 
ity, looks  like  a  succession  of  steps  when  ex- 
amined only  along  one  line  parallel  to  its  axis. 
Tlie  spiritual  monads,  which  are  coming  round 
the  system  on  the  animal  level,  pass  on  to  other 
worlds  when  they  have  performed  their  turn 
of  animal  incarnation  here.  By  the  time  they 
come  again,  they  are  ready  for  human  incarna- 
tion, and  there  is  no  necessity  now  for  the  up- 
ward development  of  animal  forms  into  human 
forms —  these  are  already  waiting  for  their  spir- 
itual tenants.  But,  if  we  go  back  far  enough, 
we  come  to  a  period  at  which  there  were  no 
human  forms  ready  developed  on  the  earth. 
When  spiritual  monads,  traveling  on  the  ear- 
liest or  lowest  human  level,  were  thus  begin- 
ning to  come  round,  their  onward  pressure  in  a 
world  at  that  time  containing  none  but  animal 
forms  provoked  the  improvement  of  the  high- 
est of  these  into  the  required  form  —  the  much» 
talked-of  missing  link. 

In  one  way  of  looking  at  the  matter,  it  may 
be  contended  that  this  explanation  is  identical 
with  the  inference  of  the  Darwinian  evolution- 


84  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

ist  in  regard  to  tlie  development  and  extinction 
of  missing  links.     After  all,  it  may  be  argued 
by  a  materialist,  "  we  are  not  concerned  to  ex- 
press an  opinion  as  to  the  origin  of  the  tendency 
in  species  to    develop  higher  forms.     We  say 
that  they  do    develop    these  higher  forms    by 
intermediate  links,  and   that   the  intermediate 
links  die  out ;  and  you  say  just  the  same  thing." 
But  there  is  a  distinction  between  the  two  ideas 
for  any  one  who  can  follow  subtle  distinctions. 
The  natural  process  of  evolution,  from  the  influ- 
ence of  local  circumstances  and  sexual  selection, 
must  not  be  credited  with  producing  intermedi- 
ate forms,  and  this  is  why  it  is  inevitable  that 
the  intermediate  forms  should  be  of  a  tempo- 
rary nature    and   should   die   out.     Otherwise, 
we  should  find  the  world  stocked  with  missing 
links    of    all    kinds,    animal    life    creeping   by 
plainly  apparent  degrees  up  to  manhood,  human 
forms  mingling  in   indistinguishable    confusion 
with   those    of    animals.     The  impulse    to    the 
new  evolution  of  higher  forms  is  really  given,  as 
we  have  shown,  by  rushes  of  spiritual  monads 
coming  round  the  cycle  in  a  state  fit  for  the 
inhabitation  of  new  forms.     These  superior  life 
impulses  burst  the  chrysalis  of  the  older  form 
on  tlie   planet  they  invade,  and  throw  off  an  ef- 
florescence   of    something    higher.     The    forms 
which    have   gone   on  merely  repeating  them- 


TEE  PLANETARY  CHAIN.  85 

selves  for  millenniums  start  afresh  into  growth  ; 
with  relative  rapidity  they  rise  through  the 
intermediate  into  the  higher  forms,  and  then, 
as  these  in  turn  are  multiplied  with  the  vigor 
and  rapidity  of  all  new  growths,  they  supply 
tenements  of  flesh  for  the  spiritual  entities  com- 
ing round  on  tliat  stage  or  plane  of  existence, 
and  for  the  intermediate  forms  there  are  no 
longer  any  tenants  offering.  Inevitably  they 
become  extinct. 

Thus  is  evolution  accomplished,  as  regards  its 
essential  impulse,  by  a  spiral  p>f ogress  through 
the  worlds.  In  the  course  of  explaining  this 
idea  we  have  partly  anticipated  the  declaration 
of  another  fact  of  first-rate  importance  as  an  aid 
to  correct  views  of  the  world-system  to  which 
"we  belong.  That  is,  that  the  tide  of  life  —  the 
■wave  of  existence,  the  spiritual  impulse,  call 
it  by  what  name  we  please  —  passes  on  from 
planet  to  planet  by  rushes,  or  gushes,  not  by  an 
even  continuous  flow.  For  the  momentary  pur- 
pose of  illustrating  the  idea  in  hand,  the  process 
may  be  compared  to  the  filling  of  a  series  of 
holes  or  tubs  sunk  in  the  ground,  such  as  may 
sometimes  be  seen  at  the  mouths  of  feeble 
springs,  and  connected  with  each  other  by  little 
surface  channels.  The  stream  from  the  ^^ring, 
as  it  flows,  is  gathered  up  entirely  in  the  begin- 
ning by  the  first  hole,  or  tub  A,  and  it  is  only 


86  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

wlien  this  is  quite  full  that  the  continued  in^ 
pouring  of  water  from  the  spring  causes  that 
which  it  already  contains  to  overflow  into  tub 
B.  This  in  turn  fills  and  overflows  along  the 
channel  which  leads  to  tub  C,  and  so  on.  Now, 
though,  of  course,  a  clumsy  analogy  of  this  kind 
will  not  carry  us  very  far,  it  precisely  illustrates 
the  evolution  of  life  on  a  chain  of  worlds  like 
that  we  are  attached  to,  and,  indeed,  the  evolu- 
tion of  the  worlds  themselves.  For  the  process 
which  goes  on  does  not  involve  the  preexistence 
of  a  chain  of  globes  which  Nature  proceeds  to 
stock  with  life ;  but  it  is  one  in  which  the  evo- 
lution of  each  globe  is  the  result  of  previous  ev- 
olutions, and  the  consequence  of  certain  im- 
pulses thrown  off  from  its  predecessor  in  the 
superabundance  of  tlieir  development.  Now,  it 
is  necessary  to  deal  with  this  characteristic  of 
the  process  to  be  described,  but  directly  we  be- 
gin to  deal  with  it  w^e  have  to  go  back  in  imag- 
ination to  a  period  in  the  development  of  our 
system  very  far  antecedent  to  that  which  is  spec- 
ially our  subject  at  present  —  the  evolution  of 
man.  And  manifestly,  as  soon  as  we  begin 
talking  of  the  beginnings  of  worlds,  we  are 
dealing  with  phenomena  which  can  have  had 
very  little  to  do  with  life,  as  we  understand  the 
matter,  and,  therefore,  it  may  be  supposed,  notli- 
ing  to  do  with  life  impulses.     But  let   us   go 


THE  PLANETARY  CHAIN.  87 

back  by  degrees.  Behind  the  human  harvest 
of  tlie  life  impulse  there  lay  the  harvest  of 
mere  animal  forms,  as  every  one  realizes;  be- 
hind that,  the  harvest  or  growths  of  mere  vege- 
table forms  —  for  some  of  these  undoubtedly 
preceded  the  appearance  of  the  earliest  animal 
life  on  the  planet.  Then,  before  the  vegetable 
organizations,  there  were  mineral  organizations, 
—  for  even  a  mineral  is  a  product  of  Nature,  an 
evolution  from  something  behind  it,  as  every 
imaginable  manifestation  of  Nature  must  be, 
until  in  the  vast  series  of  manifestations  the 
mind  travels  back  to  the  unmanifested  begin- 
ning of  all  things.  On  pure  metaphysics  of 
that  sort  we  are  not  now  engaged.  It  is  enough 
to  show  that  we  may  as  reasonably  —  and  that 
we  must  if  we  would  talk  about  these  matters 
at  all  —  conceive  a  life  impulse  giving  birth  to 
mineral  forms  as  of  the  same  sort  of  impulse 
concerned  to  raise  a  race  of  apes  into  a  race  of 
rudimentary  men.  Indeed,  occult  science  trav- 
els back  even  further  in  its  exhaustive  analysis 
of  evolution  than  the  period  at  which  minerals 
began  to  assume  existence.  In  the  process  of 
developing  worlds  from  fiery  nebulae,  Nature 
begins  with  something  earlier  than  minerals  — 
with  the  elemental  forces  that  underlie  the  phe- 
nomena of  Nature  as  visible  now  and  perceptible 
to  the  senses  of  man.     But  that  branch  of  the 


88  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

subject  may  be  left  alone  for  the  present.  Let 
us  lake  up  the  process  at  the  period  when  thcj 
first  world  of  the  series,  globe  A  let  us  call  itj 
is  merely  a  congeries  of  mineral  forms.  No\V 
it  must  be  remembered  that  globe  A  has  already 
been  described  as  very  much  more  ethereal, 
more  predominated  by  spirit,  as  distinguished 
from  matter,  than  the  globe  of  which  we  at 
present  are  having  personal  experience,  so  that 
a  lar^re  allowance  must  be  made  for  that  state 
of  Ihinnrs  when  we  ask  the  reader  to  think  of  it, 
at  starting,  as  a  mere  congeries  of  mineral  forms. 
Mineral  forms  may  be  mineral  in  the  sense  of 
not  belonging  to  the  higher  forms  of  vegetable 
organism,  and  may  yet  be  very  immaterial  as 
we  think  of  matter,  very  ethereal,  consisting  of 
a  very  fine  or  subtle  quality  of  matter,  in  which 
the  other  pole  or  characteristic  of  Nature,  spirit, 
largely  predominates.  The  minerals  we  are 
trying  to  portray  are,  as  it  were,  the  ghosts  of 
minerals  ;  by  no  means  the  highly-finished  and 
beautiful,  hard  crystals  which  the  mineralogical 
cabinets  of  this  world  supply.  In  these  lower 
spirals  of  evolution  with  which  w^e  are  now 
dealing,  as  with  the  higher  ones,  there  is  prog- 
ress from  world  to  world,  and  that  is  the  great 
point  at  which  we  have  been  aiming.  There  is 
prof^ress  downwards,  so  to  speak,  in  finish  and 
materiality  and  consistency;   and  then,  again, 


THE  PLANETARY  CHAIN.  89 

progress  upward  in  spirituality  as  coupled  with 
the  finish  which  matter  or  materiality  rendered 
possible  in  the  first  instance.  It  will  be  found 
that  the  process  of  evolution  in  its  higher  stages 
as  regards  man  is  carried  on  in  exactly  the  same 
way.  All  through  these  studies,  indeed,  it  will 
be  found  that  one  process  of  Nature  typifies 
another,  that  the  big  is  the  repetition  of  the  lit- 
tle on  a  lar^rer  scale. 

o 

It  is  manifest  from  what  we  have  already 
said,  and  in  order  that  the  progress  of  organ- 
isms on  globe  A  shall  be  accounted  for,  that 
the  mineral  kingdom  will  no  more  develop  the 
vegetable  kingdom  on  globe  A  until  it  receives 
an  impulse  from  without,  than  the  earth  was 
able  to  develop  man  from  the  ape  till  it  re- 
ceived an  impulse  from  without.  But  it  will 
be  inconvenient  at  present  to  go  back  to  a  con- 
sideration of  the  impulses  wliich  operate  on 
globe  A  in  the  beginning  of  the  system's  con- 
struction. 

We  have  already,  in  order  to  be  able  to  ad- 
vance more  comfortably  from  a  far  later  period 
than  that  to  which  we  have  now  receded,  p-one 

'    o 

back  so  far  that  further  recession  would  change 
the  whole  character  of  this  explanation.  We 
must  stop  somewhere,  and  for  the  present  it 
will  be  best  to  take  the  life  impulses  behind 
globe    A    for   granted.     And    having   stopped 


90  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

there  we  may  now  treat  the  enormous  period 
intervening  between  tlie  mhieral  epoch  on  globe 
A  and  the  man  epoch  in  a  very  cursor^'  way, 
and  so  get  back  to  the  main  problem  before  us. 
What  has  been  already  said  facilitates  a  cursory 
treatment  of  the  intervening  evolution.  The 
full  development  of  the  mineral  epoch  on  globe 
A  prepares  the  way  for  the  vegetable  develop- 
ment, and  as  soon  as  this  begins  the  mineral 
life  impulse  overflows  into  globe  B.  Then 
when  the  vegetable  development  on  globe  A  is 
complete,  and  the  animal  development  begins, 
the  vegetable  life  impulse  overflows  to  globe  B, 
and  the  mineral  impulse  passes  on  to  globe  C. 
Then,  finally,  comes  the  human  life  impulse  on 
globe  A. 

Now  it  is  necessary  at  this  point  to  guard 
against  one  misconception  that  might  arise. 
As  just  roughly  described,  the  process  might 
convey  the  idea  that  by  the  time  the  human 
impulse  began  on  globe  A  tlie  mineral  impulse 
was  then  beginning  on  globe  D,  and  that  be- 
yond lay  chaos.  This  is  very  far  from  being 
the  case,  for  two  reasons.  First,  as  already 
stated,  there  are  processes  of  evolution  which 
precede  the  mineral  evolution,  and  thus  a  wave 
of  evolution,  indeed  several  weaves  of  evolution 
precede  the  mineral  wave  in  its  progress  round 
the  spheres.     But  over  and  above  this  there  is 


THE  PLANETARY  CHAIN.  91 

a,  fact  to  be  stated  which  has  such  an  influence 
on  the  course  of  events,  that,  when  it  is  real- 
ized, it  will  be  seen  that  the  life  impulse  has 
passed  several  times  completely  round  the 
wdiole  chain  of  worlds  before  the  commence- 
ment of  the  human  impulse  on  globe  A.  This  ^ 
fact  is  as  follows:  Each  kingdom  of  evolution, 
vegetable,  animal,  and  so  on,  is  divided  into 
several  spiral  layers.  The  spiritual  monads 
—  the  individual  atoms  of  that  immense  life 
impulse  of  which  so  much  has  been  said  —  do 
not  fully  complete  their  mineral  existence  on 
globe  A,  then  complete  it  on  globe  B,  and  so 
on.  They  pass  several  times  round  the  whole 
circle  as  minerals,  and  then  again  several  tiuies 
round  as  vegetables,  and  several  times  as  ani- 
mals. We  purposely  refrain  for  the  present 
from  going  into  figures,  because  it  is  more  con- 
venient to  state  the  outline  of  the  scheme  in 
general  terms  first ;  but  figures  in  reference  to 
these  processes  of  Nature  have  now  been  given 
to  the  world  by  the  occult  adepts  (for  the  first 
time  we  believe  in  its  history),  and  they  shall 
be  brought  out  in  the  course  of  this  explana- 
tion, very  shortly,  but  as  we  say  the  outline  is 
enough  for  any  one  to  think  of  at  first. 

And  now  we  have  rudimentary  man  begin- 
ning his  existence  on  globe  A,  in  that  world 
where  all  things  are  as  the  ghosts  of  the  corrc' 


92  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

sponding  things  in  this  world.  He  is  beginning 
his  long  descent  into  matter.  And  the  life  im- 
pulse of  each  "  round  "  overflows,  and  the  races 
of  man  are  established  in  different  degrees  of 
perfection  on  all  the  planets,  on  each  in  turn. 
But  the  rounds  are  more  complicated  in  their 
design  than  this  explanation  would  show,  if  it 
stopped  short  here.  The  process  for  each  spir- 
itual monad  is  not  merely  a  passage  from  planet 
to  planet.  Within  the  limits  of  each  planet, 
each  time  it  arrives  thermit  has  a  complieatc^d 
process  of-^jjiplution  to  "pSRiorm.  It  is  many 
times  incarnated  in  successive  races  of  men  be- 
fore it  passes  onward,  and  it  even  has  margin- 
carnations  in  each  great  race.  It  will  be  found 
when  we  get  on  further  that  this  fact  throws  a 
flood  of  light  upon  the  actual  condition  of  man- 
kind as  we  know  it,  accounting  for  those  im- 
mense differences  of  intellect  and  moralit}^,  and 
even  of  welfare  in  its  highest  sense,  which  gen- 
erally appear  so  painfully  mysterious. 

That  which  has  a  definite  beginning  gener- 
ally has  an  end  also.  As  we  have  shown  that 
the  evolutionary  process  under  description  be- 
gan when  certain  impulses  first  commenced 
their  operation,  so  it  may  be  inferred  that  they 
are  tending  towards  a  final  consummation,  to' 
wards  a  goal  and  a  (lonclusion.  That  is  so, 
though  the  goal  is  still  far  off.     Man,  as  we 


THE  PLANETARY  CHAIN.  93 

know  him  on  this  earth,  is  but  half-way  through 
the  evokitionary  process  to  which  he  owes  his 
present  development.  He  will  be  as  much 
greater  before  the  destiny  of  our  system  is  ac- 
complished than  he  is  now  as  he  is  now  greater 
than  the  missing  link.  And  that  improvement 
will  even  be  accomplished  on  this  earth,  while, 
in  the  other  worlds  of  the  ascending  series, 
there  are  still  loftier  peaks  of  perfection  to  be 
scaled.  It  is  utterly  beyond  the  range  of  facul- 
ties, untutored  in  the  discernment  of  occult 
mysteries,  to  imagine  the  kind  of  life  which 
man  will  thus  ultimately  lead  before  the  zenith 
of  the  great  cycle  is  attained.  But  there  is 
enough  to  be  done  in  filling  up  the  details  of 
the  outline  now  presented  to  the  reader,  with- 
out attempting  to  forecast  those  which  have  to 
do  with  existences  towards  which  evolution  is 
reaching  across  the  enormous  abysses  of  the 
future. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  WOELD   PEEIODS. 

A  STRIKING  illustration  of  the  uniformities 
of  Nature  is  brought  out  by  the  first  glance  at 
the  occult  doctrine  in  reference  to  the  develop- 
ment of  man  on  the  earth.  The  outline  of  the 
design  is  the  same  as  the  outline  of  the  more 
comprehensive  design  covering  the  whole  chain 
of  worlds.  The  inner  details  of  this  world,  as 
regards  its  units  of  construction,  are  the  same 
as  tlie  inner  details  of  the  larger  organism  of 
which  this  world  itself  is  a  unit.  That  is  to 
say,  the  development  of  humanity  on  this  earth 
is  accomplished  by  means  of  successive  waves 
of  development  which  correspond  to  the  succes- 
sive worlds  in  the  great  planetary  chain.  The 
great  tide  of  human  life,  be  it  remembered  — 
for  that  has  been  already  set  forth  —  sweeps 
round  the  whole  circle  of  worlds  in  successive 
waves.  These  primary  growths  of  humanity 
may  be  conveniently  spoken  of  as  rounds.  We 
T#ust  not  forget  that  the  individual  units,  con- 
Btitutinff  each  round  in  turn,  are  identically  the 


THE   WORLD  PERIODS.  95 

same  as  regards  their  higher  principles,  that  is, 
that  the  individualities  on  the  earth  during 
round  one  come  back  again  after  completing 
their  travels  round  the  whole  series  of  worlds 
and  constitute  round  two,  and  so  on.  But 
the  point  to  which  special  attention  should  be 
drawn  here  is  that  the  individual  unit  having 
arrived  at  any  given  planet  of  the  series,  in  the 
course  of  any  given  round,  does  not  merely 
touch  that  planet  and  pass  on  to  the  next.  Be- 
fore passing  on,  he  has  to  live  through  a  series 
of  races  on  that  phinet.  And  this  fact  suggests 
the  outline  of  the  fabric  which  will  presently 
develop  itself  in  the  reader's  mind  and  exhibit 
that  similarity  of  design  on  the  part  of  the  one 
world  as  compared  with  the  whole  series  to 
which  attention  has  already  been  drawn.  As 
the  complete  scheme  of  Nature  that  we  belong 
to  is  worked  out  by  means  of  a  series  of  rounds 
sweeping  through  all  the  worlds,  so  the  devel- 
opment of  humanity  on  each  world  is  worked 
out  by  a  series  of  races  developed  within  the 
limits  of  each  world  in  turn. 

It  is  time  now  to  make  the  working  of  this 
law  clearer  by  coming  to  the  actual  figures 
which  have  to  do  with  the  evolution  of  our  doc- 
trine. It  would  have  been  premature  to  begin 
with  them,  but  as  soon  as  the  idea  of  a  system 
of  worlds  in  a  chain,  and  of  life  evolution  on 


96  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

each  through  a  series  of  re-births,  is  satisfac- 
torily grasped,  the  further  exMinination  of  the 
laws  at  work  will  be  greatly  facilitated  by  pre- 
cise reference  to  the  actual  nuinber  of  worlds 
and  the  actual  number  of  rounds  and  races  re- 
quired to  accomplish  the  whole  purpose  of  the 
system.  For  the  whole  duration  of  the  system 
is  as  certainly  limited  in  time,  be  it  remem- 
bered, as  the  life  of  a  single  man.  Probably 
not  limited  to  any  definite  number  of  years  set 
irrevocably  from  the  commencement,  but  that 
which  has  a  beginning  progresses  onward  to- 
wards an  end.  The  life  of  a  man,  leaving  ac- 
cidents quite  out  of  the  account,  is  a  termina- 
ble period,  and  the  life  of  a  world  system  leads 
up  to  a  final  consummation.  The  vast  periods 
of  time,  concerned  in  the  life  of  a  world  sys- 
tem, dazzle  the  imagination  as  a  rule,  but  still 
they  are  measurable  ;  they  are  divisible  into 
sub-periods  of  various  kinds,  and  these  have  a 
definite  number. 

By  what  prophetic  instinct  Shakespeare 
pitched  upon  seven  as  tlie  number  which  suited 
his  fantastic  classification  of  the  ages  of  man 
is  a  question  with  wdiich  we  need  not  be  much 
concerned,  but  certain  it  is  that  he  could  not 
have  made  a  more  felicitous  choice.  In  periods 
of  sevens  the  evolution  of  the  races  of  man  may 
be  traced,  and  the  actual  number  of  the  objeo 


THE   WORLD  PERIODS.  97 

tive  worlds  which  constitute  our  system,  and  of 
which  the  earth  is  one,  is  seven  also.  Remem- 
ber the  occult  scientists  know  this  as  a  fact, 
just  as  the  physical  scientists  know  for  a  fact 
that  the  spectrum  consists  of  seven  colors,  and 
the  musical  scale  of  seven  tones.  There  are 
seven  kingdoms  of  Nature,  not  three,  as  modern 
science  has  imperfectly  classified  them.  ]\Ian 
belongs  to  a  kingdom  distinctly  separate  from 
that  of  the  animals,  including  beings  in  a 
higher  state  of  organization  than  that  which 
manhood  has  familiarized  us  with  as  yet ;  and 
below  the  mineral  kingdom  there  are  three 
others  which  science  in  tlie  West  knows  noth- 
ing about ;  but  this  branch  of  the  subject  may 
be  set  aside  for  the  present.  It  is  mentioned 
merely  to  show  the  regular  operation  of  the 
septenary  law  in  Nature. 

Man,  returning  to  the  kingdom  we  are  most 
interested  in,  is  evolved  in  a  series  of  rounds 
(progressions  round  the  series  of  worlds),  and 
seven  of  these  rounds  have  to  be  accomplished 
before  the  destinies  of  our  system  are  worked 
out.  The  round  which  is  at  present  going  on 
is  the  fourth.  There  are  considerations  of  the 
utmost  possible  interest  connected  with  precise 
knowledge  on  these  points,  because  each  round 
is,  as  it  were,  specially  allotted  to  the  predomi- 
nance of  one  of  the  seven  principles  in  man, 


98  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

and  in  the  regular  order  of  their  upward  grada- 
tion. 

An  individual  unit,  arriving  on  a  planet  for 
the  first  time  in  the  course  of  a  round,  has  tp 
work  through  seven  races  on  that  planet  before 
he  passes  on  to  the  next,  and  each  of  those  races 
occupies  the  earth  for  a  long  time.  Our  old- 
fashioned  speculations  about  time  and  eternity, 
suggested  by  the  misty  religious  systems  of  the 
West,  have  brought  on  a  curious  habit  of  mind 
in  connection  with  problems  bearing  on  the 
actual  duration  of  such  periods.  We  can  talk 
glibly  of  eternity,  and,  going  to  the  other  end 
of  the  scale,  we  are  not  shocked  by  a  few  thou- 
sand years  ;  but  directly  years  are  numbered 
with  precision  in  groups  which  lie  in  interven- 
ing regions  of  thought,  illogical  Western  theo- 
logians are  apt  to  regard  such  numbering  as 
nonsense.  Now,  we  at  present  living  on  this 
earth  —  the  great  bulk  of  humanity,  that  is  to 
say,  for  there  are  exceptional  cases  to  be  con- 
sidered later  —  are  now  going  through  the  fifth 
race  of  our  present  fourth  round.  And  yet  the 
evolution  of  that  fifth  race  began  about  a  mill- 
ion of  3^ears  ago.  Will  the  reader,  in  consid- 
eration of  the  fact  that  the  ])resent  cosmogony 
does  not  profess  to  work  with  eternity,  nerve 
himself  to  deal  with  estimates  that  do  concern 
themselves  with  millions  of  years,  and  even 
count  such  millions  by  considerable  numbers? 


THE   WORLD  PERIODS.  99 

Eacli  race  of  the  seven  which  go  to  make 
up  a  round  —  i.  e.  which   are  evolved  on  tlie 
earth   in    succession    during  its    occupation    by 
the  great  wave  of  humanity  passing  round  the 
planetary  chain  —  is  itself  subject  to  subdivis- 
ion.    Were  this  not  the  case,  the  active  exist- 
ences of  each  human  unit  would  be  indeed  few 
and  far  between.     Within  the  limits   of  each 
race  there  are  seven   subdivisional  races,  and 
again    within    the   hmits    of    each    subdivision 
there   are    seven    branch    races.      Through    all 
these  races,  roughly  speaking,  each  individual 
human  unit  must  pass  during  his  stay  on  eartli 
each  time  he  arrives  there  on  a  round  of  prog- 
ress through  the  planetary  system.     On  reflec- 
tion, this  necessity  should  not  appall  the  mind 
so  much  as  a  hypothesis  which  would  provide 
for   fewer   incarnations.      For,   however   many 
lives  each   individual    unit    may  pass   through 
while  on  earth  during  a  round,  be  their  num- 
bers few  or  many,  he  cannot  pass  on  until  the 
time  comes  for  the  round  wave  to  sweep  for- 
ward.    Even  by   the  calculation  already   fore- 
shadowed, it  will  be  seen  that  the  time  spent 
by  each   individual  unit  in   physical  life,   can 
only  be  a  small  fraction  of  the  whole  time  he 
has  to  get  through  between  his  arrival  on  earth 
and  his   departure   for  the  next  planet.     The 
larger  part  of  the  time  —  as  we  reckon  dura- 


100  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

tion  of  time  —  is  obviously,  therefore,  spent  in 
those  subjective  conditions  of  existence  which 
belong  to  the  "  World  of  Effects,"  or  spiritual 
earth  attached  to  the  physical  earth  on  which 
our  objective  existence  is  passed. 

The  nature  of  existence  on  the  spiritual  earth 
must  be  considered  pari  passi*  with  the  nature 
of  that  passed  on  the  physical  earth  and  dealt 
with  in  the  above  enumeration  of  race  incarna- 
tions. We  must  never  forget  that  between 
each  physical  existence  the  individual  unit 
passes  through  a  period  of  existence  in  the  cor- 
responding spiritual  world.  And  ifc  is  because 
the  conditions  of  that  existence  are  defined  by 
the  use  that  has  been  made  of  the  opportunities 
in  the  next  preceding  physical  existence  that 
the  spiritual  earth  is  often  spoken  of  in  occult 
writlnof  as  the  world  of  effects.  The  earth  it- 
self  is  its  corresponding  world  of  causes. 

That  which  passes  naturally  into  the  world 
of  effects  after  an  incarnation  in  the  world  of 
causes  is  the  individual  unit  or  spiritual  monad  ; 
but  the  personality  just  dissolved  passes  there 
with  it,  to  an  extent  dependent  on  the  qualifi- 
cations of  such  personality,  —  on  the  use,  that  is 
to  say,  which  the  person  in  question  has  made 
of  his  opportunities  in  life.  The  period  to  be 
spent  in  the  world  of  effects  —  enormously 
longer  in  each  case  than  the  life  which  has 


THE    WORLD  PERIODS.  101 

paved  the  way  for  existence  there  —  corre- 
sponds to  the  "  hereafter "  or  heaven  of  ordi- 
nary theology.  The  narrow  purview  of  ordi- 
nary religious  conceptions  deals  merely  with 
one  spiritual  life  and  its  consequences  in  the 
life  to  come.  Theology  conceives  that  the  en- 
tity concerned  had  its  beginning  in  this  physi- 
cal life,  and  that  the  ensuing  spiritual  life  will 
never  stop.  And  this  pair  of  existences,  which 
is  shown,  by  the  elements  of  occult  science  that 
we  are  now  unfolding,  to  constitute  a  part  only 
of  the  entity's  experience  during  its  connection 
with  a  branch  race,  which  is  one  of  seven  be- 
longing to  a  subdivisional  race,  itself  one  of 
seven  belonging  to  a  main  race,  itself  one  of 
seven  belonging  to  the  occupation  of  earth  by 
one  of  the  seven  round  waves  of  humanity 
which  have  each  to  occupy  it  in  turn  before  its 
functions  in  Nature  are  concluded,  —  this  mi- 
croscopic molecule  of  the  whole  structure  is 
what  common  theology  treats  as  more  than  the 
whole,  for  it  is  supposed  to  cover  eternity. 

The  reader  must  here  be  warned  against  one 
conclusion  to  which  the  above  explanations  — 
perfectly  accurate  as  far  as  they  go,  but  not  yet 
covering  the  whole  ground — might  lead  him. 
He  will  not  get  at  the  exact  number  of  lives  an 
individual  entity  has  to  lead  on  the  earth  in  the 
course  of  its   occupation  by  one  round,  if  he 


102  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

merely  raises  seven  to  its  third  power.  If  one 
existence  only  were  passed  in  each  branch  race, 
the  total  number  would  obviously  be  343,  but 
each  life  descends  at  least  twice  into  objectivity 
in  the  same  branch,  —  each  monad,  in  other 
words,  incarnates  twice  in  each  branch  race. 
Again,  there  is  a  curious  cyclic  law  which  op- 
erates to  augment  the  total  number  of  incarna- 
tions be3^ond  686.  Each  subdivisional  race  has 
a  certain  extra  vitality  at  its  climax,  which 
leads  it  to  throw  off  an  additional  offshoot  race 
at  that  point  in  its  progress,  and  again  another 
offshoot  race  is  developed  at  the  end  of  the  sub- 
divisional  race  by  its  dying  momentum,  so  to 
speak.  Through  these  races  the  whole  tide  of 
human  life  passes,  and  the  result  is  that  the 
actual  normal  number  of  incarnations  for  each 
monad  is  not  far  short  of  800.  Within  rela- 
tively narrow  limits  it  is  a  variable  number, 
but  the  bearings  of  that  fact  may  be  considered 
later  on. 

The  methodical  law  which  carries  each  and 
every  individual  human  entity  through  the  vast 
evolutionary  process  thus  sketclied  out,  is  in  no 
way  incompatible  with  that  liability  to  fall 
away  into  abnormal  destinies  or  ultimate  anni- 
hilation which  menaces  the  'personal  entities  of 
people  who  cultivate  very  ignoble  affinities. 
The   distribution   of    the   seven    principles   at 


THE    WORLD  PERIODS.  103 

death  shows  that  clearly  enough,  but  viewed  in 
the  light  of  these  further  explanations  about 
evolution,  the  situation  may  be  better  realized. 
The  permanent  entity  is  that  which  lives 
through  the  whole  series  of  lives,  not  only 
through  the  races  belonging  to  the  present 
round  wave  on  earth,  but  also  through  those  of 
other  round  waves  and  other  worlds.  Broadly 
speaking,  it  may  in  due  time,  though  at  some 
inconceivably  distant  future  as  measured  in 
years,  recover  a  recollection  of  all  those  lives, 
which  will  seem  as  days  in  the  past  to  us.  But 
the  astral  dross,  cast  off  at  each  passage  into 
the  world  of  effects,  has  a  more  or  less  depen- 
dent existence  of  its  own,  quite  separate  from 
that  of  the  spiritual  entity  from  which  it  has 
just  been  disunited. 

The  natural  history  of  this  astral  remnant  is 
a  problem  of  much  interest  and  importance,  but 
a  methodical  continuation  of  the  whole  subject 
will  require  us  in  the  first  instance  to  endeavor 
to  realize  the  destiny  oLthe  higher  and  more  du- 
rable spiritual  Ego  ;  and  before  going  into  that 
inquiry,  there  is  a  good  deal  more  to  be  said 
about  the  development  of  the  objective  races. 

Esoteric  science,  though  interesting  itself 
mainly  with  matters  generally  regarded  as  ap- 
pertaining to  religion,  would  not  be  the  com- 
plete comprehensive    and   trustworthy  system 


104  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

that  it  is,  if  it  failed  to  bring  all  the  facts  of 
earth  life  into  liarmony  with  its  doctrines.  It 
would  have  been  little  able  to  search  out  and 
ascertain  the  manner  in  which  the  human  race 
has  evolved  through  aeons  of  time  and  series  of 
planets,  if  it  had  not  been  in  a  position  to  ascer- 
tain also,  as  the  smaller  inquiry  is  included  in 
the  greater,  the  manner  in  which  the  wave  of 
humanity  with  which  we  are  now  concerned  has 
been  developed  on  this  earth.  The  faculties,  in 
short,  which  enable  adepts  to  read  the  mys- 
teries of  other  worlds,  and  of  other  states  of  ex- 
istence, are  in  no  way  unequal  to  the  task  of 
traveling  back  along  the  life-current  of  this 
globe.  It  follows  that  while  the  brief  record 
of  a  few  thousand  years  is  all  that  our  so-called 
universal  history  can  deal  with,  the  earth  his- 
tory, which  forms  a  department  of  esoteric 
knowledge,  goes  back  to  the  incidents  of  the 
fourth  race  which  preceded  ours,  and  to  those 
of  the  third  race  which  preceded  that.  It  goes 
back  still  further  indeed,  but  the  second  and 
first  races  did  not  develop  anything  that  could 
be  called  civilization,  and  of  them,  therefore, 
there  is  less  to  be  said  than  of  their  successors. 
The  third  and  fourth  did  —  strange  as  it  may 
seem  to  some  modern  readers  to  contemplate 
the  notion  of  civilization  on  the  earth  several 
millions  of  years  ago. 


THE   WORLD  PERIODS.  105 

Where  are  its  traces  ?  tliey  will  ask.  How 
could  the  civilization  with  which  Europe  has 
now  endowed  mankind  pass  away  so  completely 
that  any  future  inhabitants  of  the  earth  could 
ever  be  ignorant  that  it  once  existed?  How 
then  can  we  conceive  the  idea  that  any  similar 
civilization  can  have  vanished,  leaving  no  rec- 
ords for  us  ? 

The  answer  lies  in  the  regular  routine  of 
planetary  life,  which  goes  on  pari  passu  with 
the  life  of  its  inhabitants.  The  periods  of  the 
great  root  races  are  divided  from  each  other  by 
great  convulsions  of  Nature  and  by  great  geo- 
logical changes.  Europe  was  not  in  existence 
as  a  continent  at  the  time  the  fourth  race  flour- 
ished. The  continent  on  which  the  fourth  race 
lived  was  not  in  existence  at  the  time  tlie  third 
race  flourislied,  and  neither  of  the  continents 
which  were  the  great  vortices  of  the  civilizations 
of  those  two  races  are  in  existence  now.  Seven 
great  continental  cataclysms  occur  during  the 
occupation  of  the  earth  by  the  human  life-wave 
for  one  round  period.  Each  race  is  cut  off  in 
this  way  at  its  appointed  time,  some  survivors 
remaining  in  parts  of  the  world,  not  the  proper 
home  of  their  race  ;  but  these,  invariably  in 
such  cases,  exhibiting  a  tendency  to  decay,  and 
relapsing  into  barbarism  with  more  or  less 
rapidity. 


106  FSOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

The  proper  home  of  the  fourth  race,  which 
directly  preceded  oar  own,  was  that  continent 
of  which  some  memory  has  been  preserved  even 
in  exoteric  literature  —  the  lost  Atlantis.  But 
the  great  island,  the  destruction  of  which  is 
spoken  of  by  Plato,  was  really  but  the  last  rem- 
nant of  the  continent.  "  In  the  Eocene  age," 
I  am  told,  "  even  in  its  very  first  part,  the  great 
cycle  of  the  fourth  race  men,  the  Atlanteans, 
had  already  reached  its  highest  point,  and  the 
great  continent,  the  father  of  nearly  all  the 
present  continents,  showed  the  first  symptoms 
of  sinking,  —  a  process  that  occupied  it  down 
to  11,446  years  ago,  when  its  last  island,  that, 
translating  its  vernacular  name,  we  may  call 
with  propriety  Poseidonis,  went  down  with  a 
crash. 

"Lemuria"  (a  former  continent  stretching 
southward  from  India  across  what  is  now  the 
Indian  Ocean,  but  connected  with  Atlantis,  for 
Africa  was  not  then  in  existence)  "  should  no 
more  be  confounded  with  the  Atlantis  conti- 
nent than  Europe  with  America.  Both  sank 
and  were  drowned,  with  their  high  civilizations 
and  '  gods,'  yet  between  the  two  catastrophes  a 
period  of  about  700,000  years  elapsed,  Lemuria 
flourishing  and  ending  her  career  just  about 
that  lapse  of  time  before  the  early  part  of  the 
Eocene  age,  since  its  race  was  the  third.     Be- 


THE   WORLD  PERIODS.  107 

hold  the  relics  of  that  once  great  nation  in  some 
of  the  flat-headed  aborigines  of  your  Australia." 

It  is  a  mistake  on  the  part  of  a  recent  writer 
on  Atlantis  to  people  India  and  Egypt  with 
the  colonies  of  that  continent,  but  of  that  more 
anon. 

"  Why  should  not  your  geologists,"  asks  my 
revered  Mahatma  teacher,  "  bear  in  mind  that 
under  the  continents  explored  and  fathomed 
by  them,  in  the  bowels  of  which  they  have 
found  the  Eocene  age,  and  forced  it  to  de- 
liver to  them  its  secrets,  there  may  be  hidden 
deep  in  the  fathomless,  or  rather  unfathomed 
ocean  beds,  other  and  far  older  continents 
whose  strata  have  never  been  geologically  ex- 
plored ;  and  that  they  may  some  day  upset  en- 
tirely their  present  theories.  Why  not  admit 
that  our  present  continents  have,  like  Lemuria 
and  Atlantis,  been  several  times  already  sub- 
merged, and  had  the  time  to  reappear  again, 
and  bear  their  new  groups  of  mankind  and  civ- 
ilization ;  and  that  at  the  first  great  geological 
upheaval  at  the  next  cataclysm,  in  the  series  of 
periodical  cataclysms  that  occur  from  the  be- 
ginning to  the  end  of  every  round,  our  already 
autopsized  continents  will  go  down,  and  the 
Lemurias  and  Atlantises  come  up  again. 

"  Of  course  the  fourtn  race  had  its  periods  of 
the   highest   civilization."      (The   letter   from 


108  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

whicli  I  am  now  quoting  was  written  in  answer 
to  a  series  of  questions  I  put.)  "  Greek,  and 
Roman,  and  even  Egyptian  civilizations  are 
nothing  compared  to  the  civilizations  that  be- 
gan with  the  third  race.  Those  of  the  second 
race  were  not  savages,  but  they  could  not  be 
called  civilized. 

"  Greeks  and  Romans  were  small  sub-races, 
and  Egyptians  part  and  parcel  of  our  own  Cau- 
casian stock.  Look  at  the  latter,  and  at  India. 
Having  reached  the  highest  civilization,  and 
what  is  more,  learning^  both  went  down;  Egypt, 
as  a  distinct  sub-race,  disappearing  entirely  (her 
Copts  are  but  a  hybrid  remnant) ;  India,  as  one 
of  the  first  and  most  powerful  offshoots  of  the 
mother  race,  and  composed  of  a  number  of  sub- 
races,  lasting  to  these  times,  and  struggling  to 
take  once  more  her  place  in  history  some  day. 
That  history  catches  but  a  few  stra}^  hazy 
glimpses  of  Egypt  some  12,000  years  back, 
when,  having  already  reached  the  apex  of  its 
cycle  thousands  of  years  before,  the  latter  had 
begun  to  go  down. 

"The  Chaldees  were  at  the  apex  of  their 
occult  fame  before  what  you  term  the  Bronze 
Age.  We  hold  —  but  then  what  warrant  can 
vou  give  the  world  that  we  are  right? — that 
far  greater  civilizations  than  our  own  have 
risen  and  decayed.     It  is  not  enough  to  say,  as 


THE   WORLD  PERIODS.  109 

some  of  your  modern  writers  do,  that  an  extinct 
civilization  existed  before  Rome  and  Athens 
were  founded.  We  affirm  that  a  series  of  civ- 
ilizations existed  before  as  well  as  after  the 
glacial  period,  that  they  existed  upon  various 
points  of  the  globe,  reached  the  apex  of  glory, 
and  died.  Every  trace  and  memory  had  been 
lost  of  the  Assyrian  and  Phoenician  civiliza- 
tions, until  discoveries  began  to  be  made  a  few 
years  ago.  And  now  they  open  a  new  though 
not  by  far  one  of  the  earliest  pages  in  the  his- 
tory of  mankind.  And  yet  how  far  back  do 
those  civilizations  go  in  comparison  with  the 
oldest,  and  even  them  history  is  slow  to  accept. 
Archaeology  has  sufficiently  demonstrated  that 
the  memory  of  man  runs  back  vastly  further 
than  history  has  been  willing  to  accept,  and 
the  sacred  records  of  once  mighty  nations  pre- 
served by  their  heirs  are  still  more  worthy  of 
trust.  We  speak  of  civilizations  of  the  ante- 
glacial  period,  and  not  only  in  the  minds  of 
the  vulgar  and  the  profane,  but  even  in  the 
opinion  of  the  highly-learned  geologist,  the 
claim  sounds  preposterous.  What  would  you 
say,  then,  to  our  affirmation  that  the  Chinese,  — 
I  now  speak  of  the  inland,  the  true  Chinaman, 
not  of  the  hybrid  mixture  between  the  fourth 
and  fifth  races  now  occupying  the  throne, — 
the  aborigines  who  belong  in  their  unallied  na- 


110  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM, 

tionality  wholly  to  the  highest  and  last  branch 
of  the  fourth  race,  reached  their  highest  civili- 
zation when  the  fifth  had  hardly  appeared  in 
Asia?  When  was  it?  Calculate.  The  group 
of  islands  discovered  by  Nordenskiold,  of  the 
Vega,  was  found  strewn  with  fossils  of  horses, 
sheep,  oxen,  etc.,  among  gigantic  bones  of  ele- 
phants, mammoths,  rhinoceroses,  and  other 
monsters  belonging  to  periods  when  man,  says 
your  science,  had  not  yet  made  his  appearance 
on  earth.  How  came  horses  and  sheep  to  be 
found  in  company  with  the  huge  antediluvians? 
"  The  region  now  locked  in  the  fetters  of 
eternal  winter,  uninhabited  by  man,  that  most 
fragile  of  animals,  will  yery  soon  be  proved 
to  have  had  not  only  a  tropical  climate,  some- 
thing your  science  knows  and  does  not  dispute, 
but  having  been  likewise  the  seat  of  one  of  the 
most  ancient  civilizations  of  the  fourth  race, 
whose  highest  relics  we  now  find  in  the  degener- 
ate Chinaman,  and  whose  lowest  are  hopelessly 
(for  the  profane  scientist)  intermixed  with  the 
remnants  of  the  third.  I  told  you  before  that  the 
highest  people  now  on  earth  (spiritually)  belong 
to  the  first  sub-race  of  the  fifth  root  race,  and 
those  are  the  Aryan  Asiatics ;  the  highest  race 
(physical  intellectuality)  is  the  last  sub-race  of 
the  fifth,  —  yourselves,  the  white  conquerors. 
The  majority  of  mankind  belongs  to  the  seventh 


THE    WORLD  PERIODS.  Ill 

sub-race  of  the  fourth  root  race, — the  above- 
mentioned  Chinamen  and  their  offshoots  and 
branchlets  (Malayans,  Mongolians,  Tibetens, 
Javanese,  etc.,  etc.),  —  with  remnants  of  other 
sub-races  of  the  fourth  and  the  seventh  sub-race 
of  the  third  race.  All  these  fallen,  degraded 
semblances  of  humanity  are  the  direct  lineal 
descendants  of  highly  civilized  nations,  neither 
the  names  nor  memory  of  which  have  survived, 
except  in  such  books  as  '  Populvuh,'  the  sacred 
book  of  the  Guatemalans,  and  a  few  others 
unknown  to  science. " 

I  had  inquired  was  there  any  way  of  ac- 
counting for  what  seems  the  curious  rush  of 
human  progress  within  the  last  two  thousand 
years,  as  compared  with  the  relativel}?"  stagnant 
condition  of  the  fourth  round  people  up  to  the 
beginning  of  modern  progress.  This  ques- 
tion it  was  that  elicited  the  explanations  quoted 
above,  and  also  the  following  remarks  in  regard 
to  the  recent  "  rush  of  human  progress." 

"  The  latter  end  of  a  very  important  cycle. 
Each  round,  each  race,  as  every  sub-race,  has 
its  great  and  its  smaller  cycles  on  every  planet 
that  mankind  passes  through.  Our  fourth 
round  humanity  has  its  one  great  cycle,  and  so 
have  its  races  and  sub-races.  *  The  curious 
rush  '  is  due  to  the  double  effect  of  the  former 
^-the  beginning  of  its  downward  course  — and 


112  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM, 

of  the  latter  (the  small  cycle  of  your  sub-race) 
running  on  to  its  apex.  Remember  you  belong 
to  the  fifth  race,  yet  you  are  but  a  Western 
sub-race.  Notwithstanding  your  efforts,  what 
you  call  civilization  is  confined  only  to  the  lat- 
ter and  its  offshoots  in  America.  Radiating 
around,  its  deceptive  light  may  seem  to  throw 
its  rays  on  a  greater  distance  than  it  does  in 
reality.  There  is  no  rush  in  China,  and  of 
Japan  you  make  but  a  caricature. 

"  A  student  of  occultism  ought  not  to  speak 
of  the  stagnant  condition  of  the  fourth- round 
people,  since  history  knows  next  to  nothing  of 
that  condition,  '  up  to  the  beginning  of  modern 
progress,'  of  other  nations  but  the  Western. 
What  do  you  know  of  America,  for  instance, 
before  the  invasion  of  that  country  by  the 
Spaniards  ?  Less  than  two  centuries  prior  to 
the  arrival  of  Cortez  there  was  as  great  a  rush 
toward  progress  among  the  sub-races  of  Peru 
and  Mexico  as  there  is  now  in  Europe  and  the 
United  States.  Their  sub-race  ended  in  nearly 
total  annihilation  through  causes  generated  by 
itself.  We  may  speak  only  of  the  'stagnant' 
condition  into  which,  following  the  law  of  de- 
velopment, growth,  maturity,  and  decline,  every 
race  and  sub-race  falls  during  the  transition 
periods.  It  is  that  latter  condition  yovw  uni- 
versal history  is  acquainted  with,  while  it  re- 


THE    WORLD  PERIODS.  113 

mains  superbly  ignorant  of  the  condition  even 
India  was  in  some  ten  centuries  back.  Your 
sub-races  are  now  running  toward  the  apex  of 
their  respective  cycles,  and  that  history  goes  no 
further  back  than  the  periods  of  decline  of  a 
few  other  sub-races  belonging  most  of  them  to 
the  preceding  fourth  race." 

I  had  asked  to  what  epoch  Atlantis  belonged, 
and  whether  the  cataclysm  by  which  it  was 
destroyed  came  in  an  appointed  place  in  the 
progress  of  evolution,  corresponding  for  the  de- 
velopment of  races  to  the  obscuration  of  plan- 
ets.    The  answer  was  :  — 

"  To  the  Miocene  times.  Everything  comes 
in  its  appointed  time  and  place  in  the  evolution 
of  rounds,  otherwise  it  would  be  impossible  for 
the  best  seer  to  calculate  the  exact  hour  and 
year  when  such  cataclysms  great  and  small 
have  to  occur.  All  an  adept  could  do  would 
be  to  predict  an  approximate  time,  whereas 
now  events  that  result  in  great  geological 
changes  may  be  predicted  with  as  mathemat- 
ical a  certainty  as  eclipses  and  other  revolu- 
tions in  space.  The  sinking  of  Atlantis  (the 
group  of  continents  and  isles)  began  during  the 
Miocene  period,  —  as  certain  of  your  continents 
are  now  observed  to  be  gradually  sinking,  — 
and  it  culminated  first  in  the  final  disappear- 
ance of  the  largest  continent,  an  event  coinci- 


114  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

dent  with  the  elevation  of  the  Alps ;  and  second, 
with  that  of  the  last  of  the  fair  islands  men- 
tioned by  Plato.  The  Egyptian  priests  of  Sais 
told  his  ancestor  Solon,  that  Atlantis  (i.  e.,  the 
only  remaining  large  island)  had  perished  nine 
thonsand  years  before  their  time.  This  was  not 
a  fancy  date,  since  they  had  for  millenniums 
preserved  most  carefully  their  records.  But 
then,  as  I  say,  they  spoke  but  of  the  Poseidonis, 
and  would  not  reveal  even  to  the  great  Greek 
legislator  their  secret  chronology.  As  there 
are  no  geological  reasons  for  doubting,  but,  on 
the  contrary,  a  mass  of  evidence  for  accepting 
the  tradition,  science  has  finally  accepted  the 
existence  of  the  great  continent  and  archipel- 
ago, and  thus  vindicated  the  truth  of  one  more 
'  fable.' 

"  The  approach  of  every  new  obscuration  is 
always  signaled  by  cataclysms  of  either  fire  or 
water.  But  apart  from  this,  every  root  race 
has  to  be  cut  in  two,  so  to  say,  by  either  one 
or  the  other.  Thus  having  reached  the  apex 
of  its  development  and  glory,  the  fourth  race 
—  the  Atlanteans  —  were  destroyed  by  water; 
you  find  now  but  their  degenerate  fallen  rem- 
.nants,  whose  sub-races  nevertheless,  each  of 
them,  had  its  palmy  days  of  glory  and  relative 
greatness.  What  they  are  now,  you  will  be 
Bome  day,  the  law  of  cycles  being  one  and  im- 


TEE   WORLD  PERIODS.  115 

miitable.  When  your  race,  the  fifth,  will  have 
reached  its  zenith  of  physical  intellectuality, 
and  developed  its  highest  civilization  (remem- 
ber the  difference  we  make  between  material 
and  spiritual  civilizations),  unable  to  go  any 
higher  in  its  own  cycle,  its  progress  toward 
absolute  evil  will  be  arrested  (as  its  predeces- 
sors, the  Lemurians  and  the  Atlanteans,  the 
men  of  the  third  and  fourth  races,  were  arrested 
in  their  progress  toward  the  same)  by  one  of 
such  cataclysmic  changes,  its  great  civilization 
destroyed,  and  all  the  sub-races  of  that  race 
will  be  found  going  down  their  respective 
cycles,  after  a  short  period  of  glory  and  learn- 
ing. See  the  remnants  of  the  Atlanteans,  the 
old  Greeks  and  Romans  (the  modern  belong  to 
the  fifth  race).  See  how  great  and  how  short, 
how  evanescent  were  their  days  of  fame  and 
glory.  For  they  were  but  sub-races  of  the  seven 
offshoots  of  the  root  race.^  No  mother  race, 
any  more  than  her  sub-races  and  offshoots,  is 
allowed  by  the  one  reigning  law  to  trespass 
upon  the  prerogatives  of  the  race,  or  sub-race 
that  will  follow  it ;  least  of  all  to  encroach 
upon  the  knowledge  and  powers  in  store  for  its 
successor." 

The  "progress  toward  absolute  evil,"  arrested 

1  Branches  of  the  subdivisions,  according  to  the  nomenclature  I 
have  adopted  previously. 


116  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

by  the  cataclysms  of  each  race  in  turn,  sets 
in  with  the  acquisition,  by  means  of  ordinary 
intellectual  research  and  scientific  advance- 
ment, of  those  powers  over  Nature  which  ac- 
crue even  now  in  adeptship  from  the  premature 
development  of  higher  faculties  than  those  we 
ordinarily  employ.  I  have  spoken  slightly  of 
these  powers  in  a  preceding  chapter,  when  en- 
deavoring to  describe  our  esoteric  teachers ;  to 
describe  them  minutely  would  lead  me  into  a 
long  digression  on  occult  phenomena.  It  is 
enough  to  say  that  they  are  such  as  cannot  but 
be  dangerous  to  society  generally,  and  provo- 
cative of  all  manner  of  crimes  which  would 
utterly  defy  detection,  if  possessed  by  persons 
capable  of  regarding  them  as  anything  else  but 
a  profoundly  sacred  trust.  Now  some  of  these 
powers  are  simply  the  practical  application  of 
obscure  forces  of  Nature,  susceptible  of  dis- 
covery in  the  course  of  ordinary  scientific  prog- 
ress. Such  progress  had  been  accomplished 
by  the  Atlanteans.  The  worldly  men  of  sci- 
ence in  that  race  had  learned  the  secrets  of 
the  disintegration  and  reintegration  of  matter, 
which  few  but  practical  spiritualists  as  yet 
know  to  be  possible,  and  of  control  over  the 
clementals,  by  means  of  which  that  and  other 
even  more  portentous  phenomena  can  be  pro- 
duced.    Such  powers  in  the  hands  of  persons 


THE    WORLD  PERIODS.  117 

willing  to  use  them  for  merely  selfish  and  un- 
scrupulous ends,  must  not  only  be  productive  of 
social  disaster,  but  also  for  the  persons  who  hold 
them,  of  progress  in  the  direction  of  that  evilly- 
spiritual  exaltation,  which  is  a  far  more  terri- 
ble result  than  suffering  and  inconvenience  in 
this  world.  Thus  it  is,  when  physical  intellect, 
unguarded  by  elevated  morality,  runs  over  into 
the  proper  region  of  spiritual  advancement,  that 
the  natural  law  provides  for  its  violent  repres- 
sion. The  contingency  will  be  better  under- 
stood when  we  come  to  deal  with  the  general 
destinies  toward  which  humanity  is  tending. 

The  principle  under  which  the  various  races 
of  man  as  they  develop  are  controlled  collec- 
tively by  the  cyclic  law,  however  they  may  in- 
dividually exercise  the  free  will  they  unques- 
tionably possess,  is  thus  very  plainly  asserted. 
For  people  who  have  never  regarded  human 
affairs  as  covering  more  than  the  very  short 
period  with  which  history  deals,  the  course  of 
events  will  perhaps,  as  a  rule,  exhibit  no  cyclic 
character,  but  rather  a  checkered  progress,  has- 
tened sometimes  by  great  men  and  fortunate 
circumstances,  sometimes  retarded  by  war,  big- 
otry, or  intervals  of  intellectual  sterility,  but 
moving  continually  onward  in  the  long  ac- 
count at  one  rate  of  speed  or  another.  As  the 
esoteric  view  of  the  matter,  fortified   by  the 


118  ESOTERIC  BUDDniSM. 

wide  range  of  observation  which  occult  science 
is  enabled  to  take,  has  an  altogetlier  opposite 
tendenc}^  it  seems  worth  while  to  conclude 
these  explanations  with  an  extract  from  a  dis- 
tinguished author,  quite  unconnected  with  the 
occult  world,  who  nevertheless,  from  a  close 
observation  of  the  mere  historical  record,  pro- 
nounces himself  decisively  in  favor  of  the  theory 
of  cycles.  In  his  '-'•  History  of  the  Intellectual 
Development  of  Europe,"  Dr.  J.  W.  Draper 
writes  as  follows :  — 

"  We  are,  as  we  often  say,  the  creatures  of 
circumstances.  In  that  expression  there  is  a 
higher  philosophy  than  miglit  at  first  sight  ap- 
pear. .  .  .  From  this  more  accurate  point  of 
view  we  should  therefore  consider  the  course 
of  these  events,  recognizing  the  principle  that 
the  affairs  of  men  pass  forward  in  a  determi- 
nate way,  expanding  and  unfolding  themselves. 
And  hence  we  see  that  the  things  of  which  we 
have  spoken  as  though  they  were  matters  of 
choice,  were  in  reality  forced  upon  their  appar- 
ent authors  by  the  necessity  of  the  times.  But 
in  truth  they  should  be  considered  as  the  pres- 
entation of  a  certain  phase  of  life  which  nations 
in  their  onward  course  sooner  or  later  assume. 
To  the  individual,  how  well  we  know  that  a 
sober  moderation  of  action,  an  appropriate  grav- 
ity  of  demeanor,  belong  to  the  mature  period 


THE   WORLD  PERIODS.  119 

of  life,  change  from  the  wanton  willfuhiess  of 
youth,  which  may  be  ushered  in,  or  its  begin- 
ning marked  by  many  accidental  incidents  ;  in 
one  perhaps  by  domestic  bereavements,  in  an- 
other by  the  loss  of  fortune,  in  a  third  by  ill 
health.  We  are  correct  enough  in  imputing  to 
such  trials  the  change  of  character  ;  but  we 
never  deceive  ourselves  by  supposing  that  it 
would  have  failed  to  take  place  had  those  in- 
cidents not  occurred.  There  runs  an  irresisti- 
ble destiny  in  the  midst  of  all  these  vicissitudes. 
.  .  .  There  are  analogies  between  the  life  of  a 
nation  and  that  of  an  individual,  who,  though 
he  may  be  in  one  respect  the  maker  of  his  own 
fortunes,  for  happiness  or  for  misery,  for  good 
or  for  evil,  though  he  remains  here  or  goes 
there  as  his  inclinations  prompt,  though  he 
does  this  or  abstains  from  that  as  he  chooses,  is 
nevertheless  held  fast  by  an  inexorable  fate,  — 
a  fate  which  brought  him  into  the  w^orld  in- 
voluntarily, as  far  as  he  was  concerned,  which 
presses  him  forward  through  a  definite  career, 
the  stages  of  which  are  absolutely  invariable,  — 
infancy,  childhood,  youth,  maturity,  old  age, 
with  all  their  characteristic  actions  and  pas- 
sions, —  and  which  removes  him  from  the  scene 
at  the  appointed  time,  in  most  cases  againstjiis 
will.  So  also  it  is  with  nations  ;  the  voluntary 
is   only  the  outward  semblance,   covering  but 


120  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

hardly  hiding  the  predetermined.  Over  the 
events  of  Ufe  we  may  have  control,  but  none 
whatever  over  the  law  of  its  progress.  There 
is  a  geometry  that  applies  to  nations  an  equa- 
tion of  their  curve  of  advance.  That  no  mortal 
man  can  touch." 


CHAPTER  V. 
DEYACHAN. 

It  was  not  possible  to  approach  a  considera- 
tion of  the  states  into  which  the  higher  human 
principles  pass  at  death,  without  first  indicat- 
ing the  general  framework  of  the  whole  design 
worked  out  in  the  course  of  the  evolution  of 
man.  That  much  of  my  task,  however,  having 
now  been  accomplished,  we  may  pass  on  to  con- 
sider the  natural  destinies  of  each  human  Ego, 
in  the  interval  which  elapses  between  the  close 
of  one  objective  life  and  the  commencement  of 
another.  At  the  commencement  of  another, 
the  Karma  of  the  previous  objective  life  deter- 
mines the  state  of  life  into  which  the  individ- 
ual shall  be  born.  This  doctrine  of  Karma  is 
one  of  the  most  interesting  features  of  Buddhist 
philosophy.  There  has  been  no  secret  about  it 
at  any  time,  though  for  want  of  a  proper  com- 
prehension of  elements  in  the  philosophy  wdiich 
have  been  strictly  esoteric,  it  may  sometimes 
have  been  misunderstood. 

Karma  is  a  collective  expression  applied  to 


122  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

that  complicated  group  of  affinities  for  good  and 
evil  generated  by  a  human  behig  during  hfe, 
and  the  character  of  which  inheres  in  the  mole- 
cules of  his  fifth  principle  all  through  the  inter- 
val which  elapses  between  his  death  from  one 
objective  life  and  his  birth  into  the  next.  As 
stated  sometimes,  the  doctrine  seems  to  be  one 
which  exacts  the  notion  of  a  superior  spiritual 
authority  summing  up  the  acts  of  a  man's  life 
at  its  close,  taking  into  consideration  his  good 
deeds  and  his  bad,  and  giving  judgment  about 
him  on  the  whole  aspect  of  the  case.  But  a 
comprehension  of  the  way  in  which  the  human 
principles  divide  up  at  death,  will  afford  a 
clue  to  the  comprehension  of  the  way  in  which 
Karma  operates,  and  also  of  the  great  subject 
we  may  better  take  up  first,  the  immediate 
spiritual  condition  of  man  after  death. 

At  death,  the  three  lower  principles  —  the 
body,  its  mere  ph^^sical  vitality,  and  its  astral 
counterpart  —  are  finally  abandoned  by  that 
which  really  is  the  Man  himself,  and  the  four 
higher  principles  escape  into  that  world  imme- 
diately above  our  own  ;  above  our  own,  that  is, 
in  the  order  of  spirituality ;  not  above  it  at  all, 
but  in  it  and  of  it,  as  regards  real  locality,  —  the 
astral  plane,  or  Karma  Loca,  according  to  a  very 
familiar  Sanskrit  expression.  Here  a  division 
takes  place  between  the  two  duads,  which  the 


DEVACHAN.  123 

four  higher   principles  include.     The  explana- 
tions already  given  concerning    the    imperfect 
extent  to  which  the  upper  principles  of  man  are 
as  yet  developed,  will  show  that  this  estimation 
of  the  process,  as  in  the  nature  of  a  mechanical 
separation  of  the  principles,  is  a  rough  way  of 
deaUng  with  the  matter.     It  must  be  modified 
in  the  reader's  mind  by  the  light  of  what  has 
been  already  said.     It  may  be    otherwise   de- 
scribed as  a  trial  of   the  extent  to  which   the 
fifth  principle  has  been  developed.     Regarded 
in  the  light  of   the  former  idea,  however,  we 
must  conceive  the  sixth  and  seventh  principles, 
on  the  one  hand,  drawing  the  fifth,  the  human 
soul,  in  one  direction,  while  the  fourth  draws  it 
back  earthward  in  the  other.     Now,  the  fifth 
principle  is  a  very   complex  entity,  separable 
itself  into  superior  and  inferior  elements.     In 
the  struggle  which  takes  place  between  its  late 
companion  principles,  its  best,  purest,  most  ele- 
vated, and  spiritual  portions  cling  to  the  sixth, 
its  lower  instincts,  impulses,  and  recollections 
adhere  to  the  fourth,  and  it  is  in  a  measure  torn 
asunder.     The  lower  remnant,  associating  itself 
with  the  fourth,  floats  off  in  the  earth's  atmos- 
phere, while  the  best  elements,  those,  be  it  un- 
derstood, which  really  constitute  the  Ego  of  the 
late  earthly  personality,  the  individuality,  the 
consciousness  thereof,  follows  the  sixth  and  sev- 


124  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

entli  into  a  spiritual   condition,  the  nature   of 
which  we  are  about  to  examine. 

Rejecting  the  popular  English  name  for  this 
spiritual  condition,  as  incrusted  with  too  many 
misconceptious  to  be  convenient,  let  us  keep  to 
the  Oriental  designation  of  that  region  or  state 
into  which  the  higher  principles  of  human  crea- 
tures pass  at  death.  This  is  additionally  desir- 
able because,  although  the  Devachan  of  Bud- 
dhist philosophy  corresponds  in  some  respects 
to  the  modern  European  idea  of  heaven,  it  dif- 
fers from  heaven  in  others  which  are  even  more 
important. 

Firstly,  however,  in  Devachan,  that  which 
survives  is  not  merely  the  individual  monad, 
which  survives  through  all  the  changes  of  the 
whole  evolutionary  scheme,  and  flits  from  body 
to  body,  from  planet  to  planet,  and  so  forth,  — 
that  which  survives  in  Devachan  is  the  man's 
own  self-conscious  personality,  under  some  re- 
strictions indeed,  which  we  will  come  to  direct- 
ly, but  still  it  is  the  same  personality  as  regards 
its  higher  feelings,  aspirations,  affections,  and 
even  tastes,  as  it  was  on  earth.  Perhaps  it 
would  be  better  to  say  the  essence  of  the  late 
self-conscious  personality. 

It  may  be  worth  the  reader's  while  to  learn 
what  Colonel  H.  S.  Olcott  has  to  say  in  his 
"  Buddhist  Catechism  "  (14th  thousand)  of  the 


DEVACHAN.  125 

intrinsic  difference  between  "  individuality " 
and  *'  personality."  Since  he  wrote  not  only 
under  the  approval  of  the  High  Priest  of  the 
Sripada  and  Galle,  Sumangala,  but  also  under 
the  direct  instruction  of  his  adept  Guru,  his 
words  will  have  weight  for  the  student  of  Oc- 
cultism. This  is  what  he  says  in  his  Appen- 
dix :  — 

"  Upon  reflection,  I  have  substituted  '  person- 
ality '  for  '  individuality '  as  written  in  the  first 
edition.  The  successive  appearances  upon  one 
or  many  earths,  or  *  descents  into  generation  ' 
of  the  tanhaically-cohQVQwt  parts  (Skandhas)  of 
a  certain  being,  are  a  succession  of  personali- 
ties. In  each  birth  the  personality  differs  from 
that  of  the  previous  or  next  succeeding  birth. 
Karma,  the  dens  ex  mdchina^  masks  (or  shall 
we  say,  reflects?)  itself  now  in  the  personality 
of  a  sage,  again  as  an  artisan,  and  so  on 
throughout  the  string  of  births.  But  though 
personalities  ever  shift,  the  one  line  of  life 
along  which  they  are  strung  like  beads,  runs 
unbroken. 

"  It  is  ever  that  particular  line,  never  any 
other.  It  is  therefore  individual,  an  individual 
vital  undulation  which  began  in.  Nirvana  or  the 
subjective  side  of  Nature,  as  the  light  or  heat 
undulation  through  ether  began  at  its  dynamic 
source  ;  is  careering  through  the  objective  side 


126  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

of  Nature,  under  the  impulse  of  Karma  and  the 
creative  direction  of  Tanlia  ;  and  tends  through 
many  cyclic  changes  back  to  Nirvana.  Mr. 
'Rhys  Davids  calls  that  which  passes  from  per- 
sonality to  personality  along  the  individual 
chain,  '  character  '  or  '  doing.'  Since  '  charac- 
ter' is  not  a  mere  metaphysical  abstraction,  but 
the  sum  of  one's  mental  qualities  and  moral 
propensities,  would  it  not  help  to  dispel  what 
Mr.  Rhys  Davids  calls  '  the  desperate  expe- 
dient of  a  mystery,'  if  we  regarded  the  life  un- 
dulation as  individuality,  and  each  of  its  series 
of  natal  manifestations  as  a  separate  person- 
ality ? 

*'  The  denial  of  '  soul '  by  Buddha  (see  '  San- 
yutto  Nikaya,'  the  Sutta  Pitaka)  points  to  the 
prevalent  delusive  belief  in  an  independent 
transmissible  personality ;  an  entity  that  could 
move  from  birth  to  birth  unchanged,  or  go  to  a 
place  or  state  where,  as  such  perfect  entit}^  it 
could  eternally  enjoy  or  suffer.  And  what  he 
shows  is  that  the  '  I  am  I '  consciousness  is,  as 
regards  permanency,  logically  impossible,  since 
its  elementary  constituents  constantly  change, 
and  the  '  I '  of  one  birth  differs  from  the  '  I '  of 
every  other  birth.  But  everything  that  I  have 
found  in  Buddhism  accords  with  the  theory  of 
a  gradual  evolution  of  the  perfect  man,  viz.,  a 
Buddha  through  numberless  natal  experiences. 


DE  VAC  HAN.  127 

And  in  the  consciousness  of  that  person  who  at 
the  end  of  a  given  chain  of  beings  attains 
Buddhahood,  oi*  who  succeeds  in  attaining  the 
fourth  stage  of  Dhj^ana,  or  mystic  self-develop- 
ment, in  any  one  of  his  births  anterior  to  the 
final  one,  the  scenes  of  all  these  serial  births 
are  perceptible.  In  the  '  Jatakattahavannana,' 
so  well  translated  by  Mr.  Rhys  Davids,  an  ex- 
pression continually  recurs  which  I  think  rather 
supports  such  an  idea,  viz.,  '  Then  the  blessed 
one  made  manifest  an  occurrence  hidden  hy 
change  of  hirth^  or  '  that  which  had  been  hid- 
den by,  etc'  Early  Buddhism,  then,  clearly 
held  to  a  permanency  of  records  in  the  Akasa, 
and  the  potential  capacity  of  man  to  read  the 
same  when  he  has  evoluted  to  the  stage  of  true 
individual  enlightenment." 

The  purely  sensual  feelings  and  tastes  of  the 
late  personality  will  drop  off  from  it  in  Deva- 
chan,  but  it  does  not  follow  that  nothing  is 
preservable  in  that  state,  except  feelings  and 
thoughts  having  a  direct  reference  to  religion 
or  spiritual  philosophy.  On  the  contrary,  all 
the  superior  phases,  even  of  sensuous  emotion, 
find  their  appropriate  sphere  of  development  in 
Devachan.  To  suggest  a  whole  range  of  ideas 
by  means  of  one  illustration,  a  soul  in  Deva- 
chan, if  the  soul  of  a  man  who  was  passionately 
devoted   to  music,  would   be  continuously  en- 


128  ESOTERIC  BUDDniSM. 

raptured  by  the  sensations  music  produces. 
The  person  whose  happiness  of  the  higlier  sort 
on  earth  had  been  entirely  centred  in  the  ex- 
ercise of  the  affections  will  miss  none  in  Deva- 
chan  of  those  whom  he  or  she  loved.  But,  at 
once  it  will  be  asked,  if  some  of  these  are  not 
themselves  fit  for  Devachan,  how  then  ?  The 
answer  is,  that  does  not  matter.  For  the  per- 
son who  loved  them  they  ivill  he  there.  It  is 
not  necessary  to  say  much  more  to  give  a  clue 
to  the  position.  Devachan  is  a  subjective  state. 
It  will  seem  as  real  as  the  chairs  and  tables 
round  us ;  and  remember  that,  above  all  things, 
to  the  profound  philosophy  of  Occultism,  are 
the  chairs  and  tables,  and  the  whole  objective 
scenery  of  the  world,  unreal  and  merely  transi- 
tory delusions  of  sense.  As  real  as  the  realities 
of  this  world  to  us,  and  even  more  so,  will  be 
the  realities  of  Devachan  to  those  who  go  into 
that  state. 

From  this  it  ensues  that  the  subjective  isola- 
tion of  Devachan,  as  it  will  perhaps  be  con- 
ceived at  first,  is  not  real  isolation  at  all,  as  the 
word  is  understood  on  the  physical  plane  of  ex- 
istence ;  it  is  companionship  with  all  that  the 
true  soul  craves  for,  whether  persons,  things,  or 
knowledge.  And  a  patient  consideration  of 
the  place  in  Nature  which  Devachan  occupies 
will  show  that  this  subjective  isolation  of  each 


DEVACnAN.  129 

human  unit  is  the  only  condition  wliicli  renders 
possible  anything  wliicli  can  be  described  as  a 
felicitous  spiritual  existence  after  death  fur 
mankind  at  large,  and  Devachan  is  as  much  a 
purely  and  absolutely  felicitous  condition  for 
all  who  attain  it,  as  Avitchi  is  the  reverse  of  it. 
There  is  no  inequality  or  injustice  in  the  sys- 
tem ;  Devachan  is  by  no  means  the  same  thing 
for  the  good  and  the  indifferent  alike,  but  it  is 
not  a  life  of  responsibility,  and  therefore  there 
is  no  logical  place  in  it  for  suffering  any  more 
than  in  Avitchi  there  is  any  room  for  enjoy- 
ment or  repentance.  It  is  a  life  of  effects^  not 
of  causes ;  a  life  of  being  paid  your  earnings, 
not  of  laboring  for  them.  Therefore  it  is  im- 
possible to  be  during  that  life  cognizant  of 
what  is  going  on  on  earth.  Under  the  opera- 
tion of  such  cognition  there  would  be  no  true 
happiness  possible  in  the  state  after  death.  A 
heaven  which  constituted  a  watch-tower  from 
which  the  occupants  could  still  survey  the  mis- 
eries of  the  earth,  would  really  be  a  place  of 
acute  mental  suffering  for  its  most  sympathetic, 
unselfish,  and  meritorious  inhabitants.  If  we 
invest  them  in  imagination  with  such  a  very 
limited  range  of  sympathy  that  they  could  be 
imagined  as  not  caring  about  the  spectacle  of 
suffering  after  the  few  persons  to  whom  they 
were  immediately  attached  had  died  and  joined 


130  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

them,  still  they  would  have  a  very  unhappy  pe- 
riod of  waiting  to  go  through  before  survivors 
reached  the  end  of  an  often  long  and  toilsome 
existence  below.  And  even  this  hypothesis 
would  be  further  vitiated  by  making  heaven 
most  painful  for  occupants  who  were  most  un- 
selfish and  sympathetic,  whose  reflected  distress 
would  thus  continue  on  behalf  of  the  afflicted 
race  of  mankind  generally,  even  after  their  per- 
sonal kindred  had  been  rescued  by  the  hipse  of 
time.  The  only  escape  from  this  dilemma  lies 
in  the  supposition  that  lieaven  is  not  yet  opened 
for  business,  so  to  speak,  and  that  all  people 
who  have  ever  lived,  from  Adam  downward, 
are  still  lying  in  a  deatli-like  trance,  waiting  for 
the  resurrection  at  the  end  of  the  world.  This 
hypothesis  also  lias  its  embarrassments,  but  we 
are  concerned  at  present  with  the  scientific  har- 
mony of  esoteric  Buddhism,  not  with  the  theo- 
ries of  other  creeds. 

Readers,  however,  who  may  grant  that  a  pur- 
view of  earthly  life  from  heaven  would  render 
happiness  in  heaven  impossible,  may  still  doubt 
whether  true  happiness  is  possible  in  the  state, 
as  it  may  be  objected,  of  monotonous  isolation 
now  described.  The  objection  is  merely  raised 
from  the  point  of  view  of  an  imagination  that 
cannot  escape  from  its  present  sunoundiiigs. 
To  begin  with,  about  monotonj'.     No  one  will 


DEVACHAN.  131 

complain  of  having  experienced  monotoii}^  dar- 
ing the  minute,  or  moment,  or  half  hour,  as  it 
may  have  been,  of  the  greatest  happiness  he 
may  have  enjoyed  in  life.  Most  people  have 
had  some  happy  moments,  at  all  events,  to  look 
back  to  for  the  purpose  of  this  comparison  ;  and 
let  us  take  even  one  such  minute  or  moment, 
too  short  to  be  open  to  the  least  suspicion  of 
monotony,  and  imagine  its  sensations  immensely 
prolonged  without  any  external  events  in  prog- 
ress to  mark  the  lapse  of  time.  There  is  no 
room,  in  such  a  condition  of  things,  for  the  con- 
ception of  weariness.  The  unalloyed,  unchange- 
able sensation  of  intense  happiness  goes  on  and 
on,  not  forever,  because  the  causes  which  have 
produced  it  are  not  infinite  themselves,  but  for 
very  long  periods  of  time,  until  the  efficient  im- 
pulse has  exhausted  itself. 

Nor  must  it  be  supposed  that  there  is,  so  to 
speak,  no  change  of  occupation  for  souls  in  De- 
vachan,  —  that  any  one  moment  of  earthly  sen- 
sation is  selected  for  exclusive  perpetuation. 
As  a  teacher  of  the  highest  authority  on  this 
subject  writes :  — 

"There  are  two  fields  of  causal  manifesta- 
tions, the  objective  and  subjective.  The  grosser 
energies  —  those  which  operate  in  the  denser 
condition  of  matter  —  manifest  objectively  in 
the  next  physical  life,  their  outcome  being  the 


132  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

new  personalit}^  of  each  birth  marshahng  within 
the  grand  cycle  of  the  evoluting  individuality. 
It  is  but  the  moral  and  spiritual  activities  that 
find  their  sphere  of  effects  in  Devachan.  And, 
thought  and  fancy  being  limitless,  how  can  it 
be  argued  for  one  moment  that  there  is  any- 
thing like  monotony  in  the  state  of  Devachan  ? 
Few  are  the  men  whose  lives  were  so  utterly 
destitute  of  feeling,  love,  or  of  a  more  or  less 
intense  predilection  for  some  one  line  of 
thought  as  to  be  made  unfit  for  a  proportionate 
period  of  Devachanic  experience  beyond  their 
earthly  life.  So,  for  instance,  while  the  vices, 
physical  and  sensual  attractions,  say,  of  a  great 
philosopher,  but  a  bad  friend  and  a  selfish  man, 
may  result  in  the  birth  of  a  new  and  still 
greater  intellect,  but  at  the  same  time  a  most 
miserable  man,  reaping  the  Karmic  effects  of 
all  the  causes  produced  by  the  '  old '  being,  and 
whose  make-up  was  inevitable  from  the  pre- 
ponderating proclivities  of  that  being  in  the 
preceding  birth,  the  intermedial  period  between 
the  two  physical  births  cannot  be,  in  Nature's 
exquisitely  well-adjusted  laws,  but  a  hiatus  of 
unconsciousness.  There  can  be  no  such  dreary 
blank  as  kindly  promised,  or  rather  implied,  by 
Christian  Protestant  theolog}^,  to  the  '  departed 
souls,'  which,  between  death  and  'resurrection,' 
have  to  hang  on  in  space,  in  mental  catalepsy 


DE  VAC  HAN.  133 

awaiting  the  '  Day  of  Judgment.'  Causes  pro- 
duced by  mental  and  spiritual  energy  being  far 
greater  and  more  important  than  those  that 
are  created  by  physical  impulses,  their  effects 
have  to  be,  for  weal  or  woe,  proportionately  as 
great.  Lives  on  this  earth,  or  other  earths, 
affording  no  proper  field  for  such  effects,  and 
every  laborer  being  entitled  to  his  own  harvest, 
they  have  to  expand  in  either  Devachan  or 
Avitchi.i  Bacon,  for  instance,  whom  a  poet 
called 

'  The  brightest,  wisest,  meanest  of  mankind,' 

might  reappear  in  his  next  incarnation  as  a 
greedy  money-getter,  with  extraordinary  intel- 
lectual capacities.  But,  however  great  the  lat- 
ter, they  would  find  no  proper  field  in  which 
that  particular  line  of  thought,  pursued  during 
his  previous  lifetime  by  the  founder  of  modern 
philosophy,  could  reap  all  its  dues.  It  would 
be  but  the  astute  lawyer,  the  corrupt  Attorney- 
General,  the  ungrateful  friend,  and  the  dishon- 
est Lord  Chancellor,  who  might  find,  led  on  by 
his  Karma,  a  congenial  new  soil  in  the  bodi/  of 
the  money-lender,  and  reappear  as  a  new  Shy- 
lock.  But  where  would  Bacon,  the  incompar- 
able thinker,  with  whom  philosophical  inquiry 
upon  the  most  profound  problems  of  Nature 
was  his  '  first  and   last   and   only  love,'  where 

1  The  lowest  states  of  Devachan  interchain  with  those  of  Avitchi 


134  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

would  tliis  '  intellectual  giant  of  his  race  once 
disrobed  of  liis  lower  nature,  go  to  ?  Have  all 
the  effects  of  that  magnificent  intellect  to  vanish 
and  disajDpear  ?  Certainly  not.  Thus  his  moral 
and  spiritual  qualities  would  also  have  to  find  a 
field  in  which  their  energies  could  expand  them- 
selves. Devachan  is  such  a  field.  Hence,  all 
the  great  plans  of  moral  reform,  of  intellectual 
research  mto  abstract  principles  of  Nature  — 
all  the  divine,  spiritual  aspirations  that  had  so 
filled  the  brightest  part  of  his  life  would,  in 
Devachan,  come  to  fruition  ;  and  the  abstract 
entity,  known  in  the  preceding  birth  as  Francis 
Bacon,  and  that  may  be  known  in  its  subse- 
quent re-incarnation  as  a  despised  usurer  —  that 
Bacon's  own  creation,  his  Frankenstein,  the  son 
of  his  Karma  —  shall  in  the  meanwhile  occupy 
itself  in  this  inner  world,  also  of  its  own  prepa- 
ration, in  enjoying  the  effects  of  the  grand 
beneficial  spiritual  causes  sown  in  life.  It 
would  live  a  purely  and  spiritually  conscious  ex- 
istence—  a  dream  of  realistic  vividness  —  until 
Karma,  being  satisfied  in  that  direction,  and  the 
ripple  of  force  reaching  the  edge  of  its  sub-cy- 
clic basin,  the  being  should  move  into  its  next 
area  of  causes,  either  in  this  same  world  or  an- 
other, according  to  his  stage  of  progression. 
.  .  .  Therefore,  there  is  '  a  change  of  occupation,' 
a   continual   change,  in   Devachan.     For   that 


BE  VAC  HAN.  135 

dream-life  is  but  the  fruition,  the  harvest-time, 
of  those  ps^^chic  seed-germs  dropped  from  the 
tree  of  physical  existence  in  oar  moments  of 
dream  and  hope  —  fancy-glimpses  of  bliss  and 
happiness,  stifled  in  an  ungrateful  social  soil, 
blooming  in  the  rosy  dawn  of  Devachan,  and 
ripening  under  its  ever -fructifying  sky.  If 
man  had  but  one  single  moment  of  ideal  expe- 
rience, not  even  then  could  it  be,  as  errone- 
ously supposed,  the  indefinite  prolongation  of 
that  *  single  moment.'  That  one  note,  struck 
from  the  lyre  of  life,  would  form  the  key-note 
of  the  being's  subjective  state,  and  work  out 
into  numberless  harmonic  tones  and  semitones 
of  psychic  phantasmagoria.  There,  all  unreal- 
ized hopes,  aspirations,  dreams,  become  fully 
realized,  and  the  dreams  of  the  objective  be- 
come the  realities  of  the  subjective  existence. 
And  there,  behind  the  curtain  of  Maya,  its  va- 
porous and  deceptive  appearances  are  perceived 
by  the  Initiate,  who  has  learned  the  great  secret 
how  to  penetrate  thus  deep  into  the  Arcana  of 
Being."  .  .  . 

As  physical  existence  has  its  cumulative  in- 
tensity from  infancy  to  prime,  and  its  dimin- 
ishing energy  thenceforward  to  dotage  and 
death,  so  the  dream-life  of  Devachan  is  lived 
correspondentially.  There  is  the  first  flatter  of 
psychic  life,  the  attainment  of  prime,  the  grad- 


136  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

ual  exhaustion  of  force  passing  into  conscious 
lethargy,  semi-unconsciousness,  oblivion  and  — 
not  death  but  birth  !  birth  into  another  person- 
ality and  the  resumption  of  action  which  daily 
begets  new  congeries  of  causes  that  must  be 
worked  out  in  another  term  of  Devachan. 

"  It  is  not  a  reality  then,  it  is  a  mere  dream," 
objectors  will  urge ;  '*  the  soul  so  bathed  in  a 
delusive  sensation  of  enjoyment  which  has  no 
reality  all  the  while  is  being  cheated  by  Na- 
ture, and  must  encounter  a  terrible  shock  when 
it  wakes  to  its  mistake."  But,  in  the  nature  of 
things,  it  never  does  or  can  wake.  The  waking 
from  Devachan  is  its  next  birth  into  objective 
life,  and  the  draught  of  Lethe  has  then  been 
taken.  Nor  as  regards  the  isolation  of  each  soul 
is  there  any  consciousness  of  isolation  whatever; 
nor  is  there  ever  possibly  a  parting  from  its 
chosen  associates.  Those  associates  are  not  in 
the  nature  of  companions  who  may  wish  to  go 
away,  of  friends  who  may  tire  of  the  friend  that 
loves  them,  even  if  he  or  she  does  not  tire  of 
them.  Love,  the  creating  force,  has  placed 
their  living  image  before  the  personal  soul 
which  craves  for  their  presence,  and  that  image 
will  never  fly  away. 

On  this  aspect  of  the  subject  I  may  again 
avail  myself  of  the  language  of  my  teacher ;  — 

"  Objectors  of  that  kind  will  be  simply  posta 


DEVACHAN.  137 

latlng  an  incongruity,  an  intercourse  of  entities 
in  Devachan,  which  applies  only  to  the  mutual 
relationship  of  physical  existence  !  Two  sym- 
pathetic souls,  both  disembodied,  will  each 
work  out  its  own  Devachanic  sensations,  mak- 
ing the  other  a  sharer  in  its  subjective  bliss. 
This  will  be  as  real  to  them,  naturally,  as 
though  both  were  yet  on  this  earth.  Neverthe- 
less, each  is  dissociated  from  the  other  as  re- 
gards personal  or  corporeal  association.  While 
the  latter  is  the  only  one  of  its  kind  that  is 
recognized  by  our  earth  experience  as  an  actual 
intercourse,  for  the  Devachanee  it  would  be  not 
only  something  unreal,  but  could  have  no  exist- 
ence for  it  in  any  sense,  not  even  as  a  delusion : 
a  physical  body  or  even  a  Mayavi-rupa  remain- 
ing to  its  spiritual  senses  as  invisible  as  it  is  it- 
self to  the  ph^^sical  senses  of  those  who  loved  it 
best  on  earth.  Thus  even  though  one  of  the 
'  sharers  '  were  alive  and  utterly  unconscious  of 
that  intercourse  in  his  waking  state,  still  every 
dealing  with  him  would  be  to  the  Devachanee 
an  absolute  reality.  And  what  actual  compan- 
ionship could  there  ever  be  other  than  the  purely 
idealistic  one  as  above  described,  between  two 
subjective  entities  which  are  not  even  as  mate- 
rial as  that  ethereal  body-shadow  — the  Mayavi- 
rupa?  To  object  to  this  on  the  ground  that 
one  is  thus  '  cheated  by  Nature  '  and  to  call  it 


138  ESOTERIC  BUDDnrSM. 

'  a  delusive  sensation  of  enjoyment  which  has 
no  realit}','  is  to  show  one's  self  utterly  unfit 
to  comprehend  the  conditions  of  life  and  being 
outside  of  our  material  existence.  For  how  can 
the  same  distinction  be  made  in  Devachan  — 
^.  e.,  outside  of  the  conditions  of  earth-life  —  be- 
tween what  we  call  a  reality,  and  a  factitious 
or  an  artificial  counterfeit  of  the  same,  in  tliis, 
our  world  ?  The  same  principle  cannot  apply 
to  the  two  sets  of  conditions.  Is  it  conceivable 
that  what  we  call  a  reality  in  our  embodied  pliys- 
ical  state  will  exist  under  the  same  conditions 
as  an  actuality  for  a  disembodied  entity  ?  On 
earth,  man  is  dual  —  in  the  sense  of  being  a 
thing  of  matter  and  a  thing  of  spirit ;  hence  the 
natural  distinction  made  by  his  mind  —  the  an- 
alyst of  his  physical  sensations  and  spiritual 
perceptions  —  between  an  actuality  and  a  fic- 
tion ;  though,  even  in  this  life,  the  two  groups 
of  faculties  are  constantly  equilibrating  each 
other,  each  group  when  dominant  seeing  as  fic- 
tion or  delusion  what  tlie  other  believes  to  be 
most  real.  But  in  Devachan  our  Ego  has 
ceased  to  be  dualistic,  in  the  above  sense,  and 
becomes  a  spiritual,  mental  entity.  Tluit  wliich 
was  a  fiction,  a  dream  in  life,  and  which  had 
its  being  but  in  the  region  of  'fancy,'  becomes, 
under  the  new  conditions  of  existence,  the  only 
possible  reality.     Thus,  for  us,  to  postulate  the 


DEVACHAN.  139 

possibility  of  any  other  reality  for  a  Devachanee 
is  to  maintain  an  absurdity,  a  monstrous  fallacy, 
an   idea   unpliilosoplaical    to   the   last   degree. 
The  actual  is  that  which  is  acted  or  performed 
de facto:  'the  reality  of  a  thing  is  proved  by 
its  actuality.'  And  the  supposititious  and  artifi- 
cial having  no  possible  existence  in  that  De- 
vachanic   state,    the   logical    sequence   is   that 
everything  in  it  is  actual  and  real.     For,  again, 
whether  overshadowing  the  five  principles  dur- 
ing the  life  of  the  personality,  or  entirely  sepa- 
rated from  the  grosser  principles  by  the  dissolu- 
tion of  the  body  —  the  sixth  principle,  or  our 
*  Spiritual  Soul,'  has  no  substance  —  it  is  ever 
Arupa ;  nor  is  it  confined   to  one  place  with  a 
limited  horizon  of  perceptions  around  it.     There- 
fore, whether  in  or  out  of  its  mortal  body,  it  is 
ever  distinct,  and  free  from  its  limitations  ;  and 
if  we  call  its  Devachanic  experiences  'a  cheatv- 
ing  of  Nature,'  then  we  should  never  be  allowed 
to  call '  reality '  any  of  those  purely  abstract  feel- 
ings that  belong  entirely  to,  and  are  reflected 
and  assimilated  by,  our  higher  soul  —  such,  for 
instance,  as  an  ideal  perception  of  the  beautiful, 
profound    philanthropy,  love,  etc.,  as    well    as 
every  other  purely  spiritual  sensation  that  dur- 
ins:   life    fills  our  inner  beino;  with  either  im- 
mense  joy  or  pain." 

We  must  remember  that  by  the  very  nature 


140  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

of  the  system  described  there  are  infinite  va- 
rieties of  well-being  in  Devachan,  suited  to  the 
infinite  varieties  of  merit  in  mankind.  If  "  the 
next  world"  really  were  the  objective  heaven 
which  ordinary  theology  preaches,  there  would 
be  endless  injustice  and  inaccuracy  in  its  oper- 
ation. People,  to  begin  with,  would  be  either 
admitted  or  excluded,  and  the  differences  of 
favor  shown  to  different  guests  within  the  all- 
favored  region  would  not  sufficiently  provide 
for  differences  of  merit  in  this  life.  But  the 
real  heaven  of  our  earth  adjusts  itself  to  the 
needs  and  merits  of  each  new  arrival  with  un- 
failing certainty.  Not  merely  as  regards  the 
duration  of  the  blissful  state,  which  is  deter- 
mined by  the  causes  engendered  during  objec- 
tive life,  but  as  regards  the  intensity  and 
amplitude  of  the  emotions  which  constitute 
that  blissful  state,  the  heaven  of  each  person 
who  attains  the  really  existent  heaven  is  pre- 
cisely fitted  to  his  capacity  for  enjoying  it.  It 
is  the  creation  of  his  own  aspirations  and  facul- 
ties. More  than  this  it  may  be  impossible  for 
the  uninitiated  comprehension  to  realize.  But 
this  indication  of  its  character  is  enough  to 
show  how  perfectly  it  falls  into  its  appointed 
place  in  the  whole  scheme  of  evolution. 

"  Devachan,"    to    resume    my    direct    quota- 
tions, "  is,  of  course,  a  states  not  a  locality,  as 


DEVACUAN.  141 

much  as  Avitchi,  its  antithesis  (which  please 
not  to  confound  with  hell).     Esoteric  Buddhist 
philosophy  has  three  principal  lokas  so-called 
—  namely,  1,  Kama  loka  ;  2,  Ru^pa  loka  ;  and 
3,  Arupa  loka;  or  in   their  literal  translation 
and  meaning  —  1,  world  of  desires  or  passions, 
of  unsatisfied  earthly  cravings  —  the  abode  of 
'Shells'    and    Victims,    of    Elementaries    and 
Suicides ;    2,   the    world   of    Forms  —  i.    e.,   of 
shadows  more  spiritual,  having  form  and  objec- 
tivity, but  no  substance  ;  and   3,  the  formless 
world,  or  rather  the  world  of  no  form,  the  in- 
corporeal, since  its  denizens   can  have  neither 
body,  shape,  nor  color  for  us  mortals,  and  in  the 
sense  that  we  give  to  these  terms.     These  are 
the  three  spheres  of  ascending  spirituality,  in 
which  the  several  groups  of  subjective  and  semi- 
subjective  entities  find  their  attractions.     All 
but  the  suicides  and  the  victims  of  premature 
violent  deaths  go,  according  to  their  attractions 
and  powers,  either  into  the  Devachanic  or  the 
Avitchi  state,  which  two  states  form  the  num- 
berless subdivisions  of  Rupa  and  Arupa  lokas 
—  that  is  to  say,  that  such  states  not  only  vary 
in  degree,  or  in  their  presentation  to  the  sub- 
ject entity  as  regards  form,  color,  etc.,  but  that 
there  is  an  infinite  scale  of  such  states,  in  their 
progressive  spirituality  and  intensity  of  feeling; 
from  the  lowest  in  the  Rupa,  up  to  the  highest 


142  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

and  the  most  exalted  in  the  Arupa-loka.  The 
student  must  bear  in  mind  that  iiersonality  is 
the  synonym  for  limitation  ;  and  that  the  more 
selfish,  the  more  contracted  the  person's  ideas, 
the  closer  will  he  cling  to  the  lower  spheres  of 
being,  the  longer  loiter  on  the  plane  of  selfish 
social  intercourse." 

Devachan  being  a  condition  of  mere  subjec- 
tive enjoyment,  the  duration  and  intensity  of 
which  is  determined  by  the  merit  and  spiritual- 
ity of  the  earth-life  last  past,  there  is  no  oppor- 
tunity^, while  the  soul  inhabits  it,  for  the  punc- 
tual requital  of  evil  deeds.  But  Nature  does 
not  content  herself  with  either  forgiving  sins  in 
a  free  and  eas}^  way,  or  damning  sinners  out- 
right, like  a  lazy  master  too  indolent,  rather 
than  too  good-natured,  to  govern  his  houseliold 
justl}^  The  Karma  of  evil,  be  it  great  or 
small,  is  as  certainly  operative  at  the  appointed 
time  as  the  Karma  of  good.  But  the  place  of 
its  operation  is  not  Devachan,  but  either  a  new 
re-birth  or  Avitchi  —  a  state  to  be  reached  only 
in  exceptional  cases  and  by  exceptional  natures. 
In  other  words,  while  the  commonplace  sinner 
will  reap  the  fruits  of  his  evil  deeds  in  a  follow- 
ing re-incarnation,  the  exceptional  criminal,  the 
aristocrat  of  sin,  has  Avitchi  in  prospect  —  that 
is  to  say,  the  condition  of  subjective  spiritual 
misery  which  is  the  reverse  side  of  Devachan. 


DEVACHAN.  ^         143 

"  Avitchi  is  a  state  of  the  most  ideal  spirit- 
ual  wickedness,  something  akin  to  the  state  of 
Lucifer,  so  superbly  described  by  Milton.     Not 
many,  though,  are  there  who  can  reach  it,  as 
the  thoughtful  reader  will  perceive.     And  if  it 
is  urged  that  since  there  is  Devachan  for  nearly 
all,   for  the  good,   the    bad,   and   the    indiffer- 
ent, the  ends  of  harmony  and  equilibrium  are 
frustrated  and  the  law    of  retribution   and  of 
impartial,   implacable  justice,   hardly  met  and 
satisfied  by  such  a  comparative  scarcity  if  not 
absence  of  its  antithesis,  then  the  answer  will 
show   that   it   is    not   so.     '  £vil   is    the    dark 
son   of  Earth   (matter)   and    Good  —  the    fair 
daughter    of    Heaven  '    (or    Spirit)    says    the 
Chinese  philosopher  ;  hence  the  place  of  pun- 
ishment for  most  of  our  sins  is  the  earth  —  its 
birth-place   and   play-ground.     There    is   more 
apparent  and  relative  than  actual  evil  even  on 
earth,  and  it  is  not  given  to  the  hoi  polloi  to 
reach  the  fatal   grandeur  and  eminence  of    a 
'  Satan  '  every  day." 

Generally,  the  re-birth  into  objective  exist- 
ence is  the  event  for  which  the  Karma  of  evil 
patiently  waits,  and  then  it  irresistibly  asserts 
itself ;  not  that  the  Karma  of  good  exhausts 
itself  in  Devachan,  leaving  the  unhappy  monad 
to  develop  a  new  consciousness  with  no  mate- 
rial beyond  the  evil  deeds  of  its  last  personality. 


144        '  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

The  re-birth  will  be  qualified  by  the  merit  as 
well  as  the  demerit  of  the  previous  life,  but  the 
Devachan  existence  is  a  rosy  sleep  —  a  peace- 
ful night  with  dreams  more  vivid  than  day,  and 
imperishable  for  many  centuries. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  Devachan  state  is 
only  one  of  the  conditions  of  existence  which  go 
to  make  up  the  whole  spiritual  or  relatively  spir- 
itual complement  of  our  earth  life.  Observers  of 
Bpiritualistic  phenomena  would  never  have  been 
perplexed  as  they  have  been  if  there  were  no 
other  but  the  Devachan  state  to  be  dealt  with. 
For  once  in  Devachan  there  is  very  little  op- 
portunity for  communication  between  a  spirit, 
then  wholly  absorbed  in  its  own  sensations  and 
practically  oblivious  of  the  earth  left  behind, 
and  its  former  friends  still  living.  Whether 
gone  before  or  yet  remaining  on  earth,  those 
friends,  if  the  bond  of  affection  has  been  suffi- 
ciently strong,  will  be  with  the  happy  spirit 
still  to  all  intents  and  purposes  for  him,  and  as 
happy,  blissful,  innocent,  as  the  disembodied 
dreamer  himself.  It  is  j^ossihle^  however,  for 
yet  living  persons  to  have  visions  of  Devachan, 
though  such  visions  are  rare,  and  only  one- 
sided, the  entities  in  Devachan,  sighted  by  the 
earthly  clairvoyant,  being  quite  unconscious 
themselves  of  undei-going  such  observation. 
The  spirit  of  the  clairvoyant  ascends  into  the 


LEV  AC  HAN.  145 

condition  of  Devachan  in  such  rare  visions,  and 
thus  becomes  subject  to  the  vivid  delusions  of 
that  existence.  It  is  under  the  impression  that 
the  spirits,  with  which  it  is  in  Devachanic 
bonds  of  sympathy,  have  come  down  to  visit 
earth  and  itself,  while  the  converse  operation 
has  really  taken  place.  The  clairvoyant's  spirit 
has  been  raised  towards  those  in  Devachan. 
Thus  many  of  the  subjective  spiritual  commu- 
nications—  most  of  them  when  the  sensitives 
are  pure-minded  —  are  real,  though  it  is  most 
difficult  for  the  uninitiated  medium  to  fix  in 
his  mind  the  true  and  correct  pictures  of  what 
he  sees  and  hears.  In  the  same  way  some  of 
the  phenomena  called  psychography  (though 
more  rarely)  are  also  real.  The  spirit  of  the 
sensitive  getting  odylized,  so  to  say,  by  the 
aura  of  the  spirit  in  the  Devachan  becomes  for 
a  few  minutes  that  departed  personality,  and 
writes  in  the  handwriting  of  the  latter,  in  his 
language  and  in  his  thoughts  as  they  were 
during  his  lifetime.  The  two  spirits  become 
blended  in  one,  and  the  preponderance  of  one 
over  the  other  during  such  phenomena  deter- 
mines the  preponderance  of  personality  in  the 
characteristics  exhibited.  Thus,  it  may  inci- 
dentally be  observed,  what  is  called  rapport^ 
is,  in  plain  fact,  an  identity  of  molecular  vibra- 
tion between  the  astral  part  of  the  incarnate 


146  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

medium  and  the  astral  part  of  the  disincarnate 
personality. 

As  already  indicated,  and  as  the  common 
sense  of  the  matter  would  show,  there  are  great 
varieties  of  states  in  Devachan,  and  each  per- 
sonality drops  into  its  befitting  place  there. 
Thence,  consequently,  he  emerges  in  his  befit- 
ting place  in  the  world  of  causes,  this  earth  or 
another,  as  the  case  may  be,  when  his  time  for 
re-birth  comes.  Coupled  with  survival  of  the 
affinities,  comprehensively  described  as  Karma, 
the  affinities  both  for  good  and  evil  engendered 
by  the  previous  life,  this  process  will  be  seen  to 
accomplish  nothing  less  than  an  explanation  of 
the  problem  which  has  always  been  regarded 
as  so  incomprehensible  —  the  inequalities  of 
life.  The  conditions  on  which  we  enter  life  are 
the  consequences  of  the  use  we  have  made  of 
our  last  set  of  conditions.  They  do  not  impede 
the  development  of  fresh  Karma,  whatever  they 
may  be,  for  this  will  be  generated  by  the  use 
we  make  of  them  in  turn.  Nor  is  it  to  be  sup- 
posed that  every  event  of  a  current  life  which 
bestows  joy  or  sorrow  is  old  Karma  bearing 
fruit.  Many  may  be  the  immediate  conse- 
quences of  acts  in  the  life  to  which  they  belong 
—  ready-money  transactions  witli  Nature,  so  to 
speak,  of  which  it  may  be  hardly  necessar}^  to 
make  any  entry  in  her  books.     But  the  great 


DEVACHAN.  147 

inequality  of  life,  as  regards  the  start  in  it 
which  different  human  beings  make,  is  a  mani- 
fest consequence  of  old  Karma,  the  infinite  va- 
rieties of  which  always  keep  up  a  constant  sup- 
ply of  recruits  for  all  the  manifold  varieties  of 
human  condition. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  the  real  Ego 
slips  instantaneously  at  death  from  the  earth- 
life  and  its  entanglements  into  the  Devachanic 
condition.     When   the  division  or  purification 
of  the  fifth   principle   has   been  accomplished 
in  Kama  loca  by  the  contending  attractions  of 
the  fourth  and  sixth  principles,  the  real  Ego 
passes  into  a  period  of  unconscious  gestation. 
I  have  spoken  already  of  the  way  in  which  the 
Devachanic  life  is  itself  a  process  of  growth, 
maturity,    and   decline ;    but   the   analogies  of 
earth  are  even  more  closely  preserved.     There 
is  a  spiritual  ante-natal  state  at  the  entrance  to 
spiritual  life,  as  there  is  a  similar  and  equally 
unconscious  physical  state  at  the  entrance  to 
objective   life.     And   this  period,  in   different 
cases,  may  be  of  very  different  duration  —  from 
a  few  moments  to  immense  periods  of  years. 
When  a  man  dies,  his  soul  or  fifth  principle  be- 
comes unconscious  and  loses  all  remembrance 
of  things  internal  as  well  as  external.    Whether 
his  stay  in  Kama  loca  has  to  last  but  a  few  mo- 
ments, hours,  days,  weeks,  months   or   years; 


148  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

whether  he  dies  a  natural  or  a  violent  death ; 
whether  this  occurs  in  youth  or  age,  and 
whether  the  Ego  has  been  good,  bad,  or  indif- 
ferent, his  consciousness  leaves  him  as  suddenly 
as  the  flame  leaves  the  wick  when  it  is  blown 
out.  When  life  has  retired  from  the  last  par- 
ticle of  the  brain  matter,  his  perceptive  facul- 
ties become  extinct  forever,  and  his  spiritual 
powers  of  cognition  and  volition  become  for  the 
time  being  as  extinct  as  the  others.  His  Ma- 
yavi-rupa  may  be  thrown  into  objectivity  as  in 
the  case  of  apparitions  after  death,  but  unless 
it  is  projected  by  a  conscious  or  intense  desire 
to  see  or  appear  to  some  one  shooting  through 
the  dying  brain,  the  apparition  will  be  simply 
automatic.  The  revival  of  consciousness  in 
Kama  loca  is  obviously,  from  what  has  been  al- 
ready said,  a  phenomenon  that  depends  on  the 
characteristic  of  the  principles  passing,  uncon- 
sciously at  the  moment,  out  of  the  dying  body. 
It  may  become  tolerably  complete  under  cir- 
cumstances by  no  means  to  be  desired,  or  it 
may  be  obliterated  by  a  rapid  passage  into  the 
gestation  state  leading  to  Devachan.  This  ges- 
tation state  may  be  of  very  long  duration  in 
proportion  to  the  Ego's  spiritual  stamina,  and 
Devachan  accounts  for  the  remainder  of  the 
period  between  death  and  the  next  physical  re- 
birth.    The  whole  period  is,  of  course,  of  very 


DKVACnAS.  149 

varying  length  in  the  case  of  different  persons, 
but  re-birth  in  less  than  fifteen  hundred  years 
is  spoken  of  as  almost  impossible,  while  the 
stay  in  Devachan  which  rewards  a  very  rich 
Karma  is  sometimes  said  to  extend  to  enormous 
periods. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

KAMA  LOCA. 

The  statements  already  made  in  reference  to 
the  destiny  of  the  higher  human  principles  at 
death  will  pave  the  way  for  a  comprehension  of 
the  circumstances  in  which  the  inferior  remnant 
of  these  principles  finds  itself,  after  the  real 
Ego  has  passed  either  into  the  Devachanic 
state  or  that  unconscious  intervening  period  of 
preparation  therefor  w^hich  corresponds  to  phj'S- 
ical  gestation.  The  sphere  in  which  such  rem- 
nants remain  for  a  time  is  known  to  occult 
science  as  Kama  loca,  the  region  of  desire,  not 
the  region  in  which  desire  is  developed  to  any 
abnormal  degree  of  intensity  as  compared  with 
desire  as  it  attaches  to  earth-life,  but  the  sphere 
in  which  that  sensation  of  desire,  which  is  a 
part  of  the  earth-life,  is  capable  of  surviving. 

It  will  be  obvious,  from  what  has  been  said 
about  Devachan,  that  a  large  part  of  the  recol- 
lections which  accumulate  round  the  human 
Ego  during  life  are  incompatible  in  their  nature 
with  the  pure  subjective  existence  to  which  the 


KAMA  LOCA,  151 

real,  durable,  spiritual  Ego  passes ;  but  they 
are  not  necessarily  on  that  account  extinguished 
or  annihilated  out  of  existence.  They  inhere 
in  certain  molecules  of  those  finer  (  but  not  fin- 
est) principles,  which  escape  from  the  body  at 
death ;  and  just  as  dissolution  separates  what 
is  loosely  called  the  soul  from  the  body,  so  also 
it  provokes  a  further  separation  between  the 
constituent  elements  of  the  soul.  So  much  of 
the  fifth  principle,  or  human  soul,  which  is  in 
its  nature  assimilable  with,  or  has  gravitated 
upwards  toward,  the  sixth  principle,  the  spirit- 
ual soul,  passes  with  the  germ  of  that  divine 
soul  into  the  superior  region,  or  state  of  Deva- 
chan,  in  which  it  separates  itself  almost  com- 
pletely from  the  attractions  of  the  earth ;  quite 
completely,  as  far  as  its  own  spiritual  course  is 
concerned,  though  it  still  has  certain  affinities 
with  the  spiritual  aspirations  emanating  from 
the  earth,  and  may  sometimes  draw  these  to- 
wards itself.  But  the  animal  soul,  or  fourth 
principle  (the  element  of  will  and  desire  as  as- 
sociated with  objective  existence),  has  no  up- 
ward attraction,  and  no  more  passes  away  from 
the  earth  than  the  particles  of  the  body  con- 
signed to  the  grave.  It  is  not  in  the  grave,  how- 
ever, that  this  fourth  principle  can  be  put  away. 
It  is  not  spiritual  in  its  nature  or  affinities,  but 
it  is  not  physical  in  its  nature.     In  its  affinities 


152  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

it  is  phj^sical,  and  hence  the  result.  It  remains 
within  the  actual  physical  local  attraction  of  the 
earth  —  in  the  earth's  atmosphere  —  or,  since  it 
is  not  the  gases  of  the  atmosphere  that  are  spe- 
cially to  be  considered  in  connection  with  the 
problem  in  hand,  let  us  say,  in  Kama  loca. 

And  with  the  fourth  principle  a  large  part 
(as  regards  most  of  mankind  unfortunately, 
though  a  part  very  variable  in  its  relative  mag- 
nitude) inevitably  remains.  There  are  plenty 
of  attributes  which  the  ordinary  composite  hu- 
man being  exhibits,  many  ardent  feelings,  de- 
sires, and  acts,  floods  of  recollections,  which 
even  if  not  concerned  with  a  life  as  ardent  per- 
haps as  those  which  have  to  do  with  the  higher 
aspirations,  are  nevertheless  essentially  belong- 
ing to  the  physical  life,  which  take  time  to  die. 
They  remain  behind  in  association  with  the 
fourth  principle,  which  is  altogether  of  the 
earthly  perishable  nature,  and  disperse  or  fade 
out,  or  are  absorbed  into  the  respective  univer- 
sal principles  to  which  they  belong,  just  as  the 
body  is  absorbed  into  the  earth,  in  progress  of 
time,  and  rapidly  or  slowly  in  proportion  to  the 
tenacity  of  their  substance.  And  where,  mean- 
while, is  the  consciousness  of  the  individual 
who  has  died  or  dissolved  ?  Assuredly  in  Deva- 
chan  ;  but  a  difficult}^  presents  itself  to  the 
mind  untrained  in  occult  science,  from  the  fact 


KAMA   LOG  A.  153 

that  a  semblance  of  consciousness  inheres  in  the 
astral  portion  —  the  fourth  principle  with  a 
portion  of  the  fifth  —  which  remains  behind  in 
Kama  loca.  The  individual  consciousness,  it 
is  argued,  cannot  be  in  two  places  at  once.  But 
first  of  all,  to  a  certain  extent,  it  can.  As  may- 
be perceived  presently,  it  is  a  mistake  to  speak 
of  consciousness,  as  we  understand  the  feeling 
in  life,  attaching  to  the  astral  shell  or  remnant ; 
but  nevertheless  a  certain  spurious  semblance 
may  be  reawakened  in  that  shell,  without  hav- 
ing any  connection  with  the  real  consciousness 
all  the  while  growing  in  strength  and  vitality 
in  the  spiritual  sphere.  There  is  no  power  on 
the  part  of  the  shell  of  taking  in  and  assimilat- 
ing new  ideas  and  initiating  courses  of  action 
on  the  basis  of  those  new  ideas.  But  there  is 
in  the  shell  a  survival  of  volitional  impulses  im- 
parted to  it  during  life.  The  fourth  principle 
is  the  instrument  of  volition  though  not  voli- 
tion itself,  and  impulses  imparted  to  it  during 
life  by  the  higher  principles  may  run  their 
course  and  produce  results  almost  indistinguish- 
able for  careless  observers  from  those  which 
would  ensue  were  the  four  higher  principles 
really  all  united  as  in  life. 

It,  the  fourth  principle,  is  the  receptacle  or 
vehicle  during  life  of  that  essentially  moral  con- 
sciousness which  cannot  suit  itself  to  conditions 


154  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

of  permanent  existence ;  but  the  consciousness 
even  of  the  lower  principles  during  life  is  a  very 
different  thing  from  the  vaporous  fleeting  and 
uncertain  consciousness,  which  continues  to 
inhere  in  them  when  that  which  really  is  the 
life,  the  overshadowing  of  them,  or  vitalization 
of  them  by  the  infusion  of  the  spirit,  has  ceased 
as  far  as  they  are  concerned.  Language  cannot 
render  all  the  facets  of  a  many-sided  idea  in- 
telligible at  once  any  more  than  a  plain  draw- 
ing can  show  all  sides  of  a  solid  object  at  once. 
And  at  the  first  glance  different  drawings  of 
the  same  object  from  different  points  of  view 
may  seem  so  unlike  as  to  be  unrecognizable  as 
the  same ;  but  none  the  less,  by  the  time  they 
are  put  together  in  the  mind,  will  their  diver- 
sities be  seen  to  harmonize.  So  with  these 
subtle  attributes  of  the  invisible  principles  of 
man  —  no  treatise  can  do  more  than  discuss 
their  different  aspects  separately.  The  vari- 
ous views  suggested  must  mingle  in  the  read- 
er's mind  before  the  complete  conception  corre- 
sponds to  the  realities  of  Nature. 

In  life  the  fourth  principle  is  the  seat  of  will 
and  desire,  but  it  is  not  will  itself.  It  must  be 
alive,  in  union  with  the  overshadowing  spirit, 
or  "  one  life,"  to  be  thus  the  agent  of  that  very 
elevated  function  of  life  —  will,  in  its  sublime 
potency.     As  already  mentioned,  the  Sanskrit 


KAMA  LOCA.  155 

names  of  the  higher  principles  connote  the  idea 
that  they  are  vehicles  of  the  one  life.  Not 
that  the  one  life  is  a  separable  molecular 
principle  itself,  it  is  the  union  of  all — the 
influences  of  the  spirit ;  but  in  truth  the  idea 
is  too  subtle  for  language,  perhaps  for  intellect 
itself.  Its  manifestation  in  the  present  case, 
however,  is  apparent  enough.  Whatever  the 
willing  fourth  principle  may  be  when  alive,  it 
is  no  longer  capable  of  active  will  when  dead. 
But  then,  under  certain  abnormal  conditions,  it 
may  partially  recover  life  for  a  time  ;  and  this 
fact  it  is  which  explains  many,  though  by  no 
means  all,  of  the  phenomena  of  spiritualistic 
mediumship.  The  "  elementary,"  be  it  remem- 
bered —  as  the  astral  shell  has  generally  been 
called  in  former  occult  writings  —  is  liable  to 
be  galvanized  for  a  time  in  the  mediumistio 
current  into  a  state  of  consciousness  and  life 
which  may  be  suggested  by  the  first  condition 
of  a  person  who,  carried  into  a  strange  room  in 
a  state  of  insensibility  during  illness,  wakes  up 
feeble,  confused  in  mind,  gazing  about  with  a 
blank  feeling  of  bewilderment,  taking  in  im- 
pressions, hearing  words  addressed  to  him  and 
answering  vaguely.  Such  a  state  of  conscious- 
ness is  unassociated  with  the  notions  of  past  or 
future.  It  is  an  automatic  consciousness,  de- 
rived  from   the  medium,      A   medium,    be  it 


156  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

remembered,  is  a  person  whose  principles  are 
loosely  united  and  susceptible  of  being  bor- 
rowed by  other  beings,  or  floating  principles, 
having  an  attraction  for  some  of  them  or  some 
part  of  them.  Now  what  happens  in  the  case 
of  a  shell  drawn  into  the  neighborhood  of 
a  person  so  constituted?  Suppose  the  person 
from  whom  the  shell  has  been  cast  died  with 
some  strong  unsatisfied  desire,  not  necessarily 
of  an  unholy  sort,  but  connected  entirely  with 
the  earth-life,  a  desire,  for  example,  to  com- 
municate some  fact  to  a  still  living  person. 
Certainly  the  shell  does  not  go  about  in  Kama 
loca  with  a  persistent  intelligent  conscious  pur- 
pose of  communicating  that  fact ;  but,  amongst 
others,  the  volitional  impulse  to  do  this  has 
been  infused  into  the  fourth  principle,  and 
while  the  molecules  of  that  principle  remain  in 
association,  and  that  may  be  for  many  years, 
they  only  need  a  partial  galvanization  into  life 
again  to  become  operative  in  the  direction  of 
the  original  impulse.  Such  a  shell  comes  into 
contact  with  a  medium  (not  so  dissimilar  in 
nature  from  the  person  who  has  died  as  to 
render  a  rapport  impossible),  and  something 
from  the  fifth  principle  of  the  medium  associates 
itself  with  the  wandering  fourth  principle  and 
sets  the  original  impulse  to  work.  So  much 
consciousness  and  so  much  intelligence  as  may 


KAMA  LOCA.  157 

be  required  to  guide  the  fourth  principle  in  the 
use  of  the  immediate  means  of  communication 
at  hand  —  a  slate  and  pencil,  or  a  table  to  rap 
upon  —  are  borrowed  from  the  medium,  and 
then  the  message  given  may  be  the  message 
which  the  dead  person  originally  ordered  his 
fourth  principle  to  give,  so  to  speak,  but  which 
the  shell  has  never  till  then  had  an  opportunity 
of  giving.  It  may  be  argued  that  the  produc- 
tion of  writing  on  a  closed  slate,  or  of  raps  on  a 
table  without  the  use  of  a  knuckle  or  a  stick, 
is  itself  a  feat  of  a  marvelous  nature,  bespeak- 
ing a  knowledge  on  the  part  of  the  communi- 
cating intelligence  of  powers  of  Nature  we  in 
physical  life  know  nothing  about.  But  the 
shell  is  itself  in  the  astral  world ;  in  the  realm 
of  such  powers.  A  phenomenal  manifestation 
is  its  natural  mode  of  dealing.  It  is  no  more 
conscious  of  producing  a  wonderful  result  by 
the  use  of  new  powers  acquired  in  a  higher 
sphere  of  existence  than  we  are  conscious  of 
the  forces  by  which  in  life  the  volitional  im- 
pulse is  communicable  to  nerves  and  muscles. 

But,  it  may  be  objected,  the  "  communicating 
intelligence  '*  at  a  spiritual  sSance  will  constant- 
ly perform  remarkable  feats  for  no  other  than 
their  own  sake,  to  exhibit  the  power  over 
natural  forces  which  it  possesses.  The  reader 
will    please    remember,    however,  that  occult 


158  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

science  is  very  far  from  saying  that  all  the 
phenomena  of  spiritualism  are  traceable  to  one 
class  of  agents.  Hitherto  in  this  treatise  little 
has  been  said  of  the  "  elementals,"  those  semi- 
intelligent  creatures  of  the  astral  light  who 
belong  to  a  wholly  different  kingdom  of  Nature 
from  ourselves.  Nor  is  it  possible  at  present 
to  enlarge  upon  their  attributes  for  the  simple 
and  obvious  reason,  that  knowledge  concerning 
the  elementals,  detailed  knowledge  on  that  sub- 
ject, and  in  regard  to  the  way  they  work,  is 
scrupulously  withheld  by  the  adepts  of  occult- 
ism. To  possess  such  knowledge  is  to  wield 
power,  and  the  whole  motive  of  the  great  se- 
crecy in  which  occult  science  is  shrouded  turns 
upon  the  danger  of  conferring  powers  upon  peo- 
ple who  have  not,  first  of  all,  by  undergoing 
the  training  of  initiates,  given  moral  guarantees 
of  their  trustworthiness.  It  is  by  command 
over  the  elementals  that  some  of  the  greatest 
physical  feats  of  adeptship  are  accomplished  ; 
and  it  is  by  the  spontaneous  playful  acts  of  the 
elementals  that  the  greatest  physical  phenom- 
ena of  the  seance  room  are  brought  about. 
So  also  with  almost  all  Indian  Fakirs  and 
Yogis  of  the  lower  class  who  have  power  of 
producing  phenomenal  results.  By  some  means, 
by  a  scrap  of  inherited  occult  teaching,  most 
likely,  they  have  come  into  possession  of  a  mor« 


KAMA  LOCA.  159 

sel  of  occult  science.  Not  necessarily  that  they 
understand  the  action  of  the  forces  they  employ 
any  more  than  an  Indian  servant  in  a  telegraph 
office,  taught  how  to  mix  the  ingredients  of  the 
liquid  used  in  a  galvanic  battery,  understands 
the  theory  of  electric  science.  He  can  perform 
the  one  trick  he  has  been  taught ;  and  so  with 
the  inferior  Yogi.  He  has  got  influence  over 
certain  elementals,  and  can  work  certain  won- 
ders. 

Returning  to  a  consideration  of  the  ex-human 
shells  in  Kama  loca,  it  may  be  argued  that 
their  behavior  in  spiritual  seances  is  not  cov- 
ered by  the  theory  that  they  have  had  some 
message  to  deliver  from  their  late  master,  and 
have  availed  themselves  of  the  mediumship 
present  to  deliver  it.  Apart  altogether  from 
phenomena  that  may  be  put  aside  as  elemental 
pranks,  we  sometimes  encounter  a  continuity  of 
intelligence  on  the  part  of  the  elementary  or 
shell  that  bespeaks  much  more  than  the  sur- 
vival of  impulses  from  the  former  life.  Quite 
so;  but  with  portions  of  the  medium's  fifth 
principle  conveyed  into  it  the  fourth  principle 
is  once  more  an  instrument  in  the  hands  of  a 
master.  With  a  medium  entranced  so  that  the 
energies  of  his  fifth  principle  are  conveyed  into 
the  wandering  shell  to  a  very  large  extent,  the 
result  is  that  there  is  a  very  tolerable  revival  of 


160  ESOTERIC  BUDDniSM. 

consciousness  in  the  shell  for  the  time  being,  as 
regards  the  given  moment.  But  what  is  the 
nature  of  such  consciousness,  after  all  ?  Noth- 
ing more,  really,  than  a  reflected  light.  Mem- 
ory is  one  thing,  and  perceptive  faculties  quite 
another.  A  madman  may  remember  very 
clearly  some  portions  of  his  past  life  ;  yet  he 
is  unable  to  perceive  anything  in  its  true  light, 
for  the  higher  portion  of  his  Manas  (fifth)  and 
Buddhi  (sixth)  principles  are  paralyzed  in  him 
and  have  left  him.  Could  an  animal  —  a  dog, 
for  instance  —  explain  himself,  he  could  prove 
that  his  memory,  in  direct  relation  to  his  ca- 
nine personality,  is  as  fresh  as  his  master's  ; 
nevertheless,  his  memory  and  instinct  cannot 
be  called  perceptive  faculties. 

Once  that  a  shell  is  in  the  aura  of  a  medium, 
he  will  perceive,  clearly  enough,  whatever  he 
can  perceive  through  the  borrowed  principles 
of  the  medium,  and  through  organs  in  mag- 
netic sympathy  therewith ;  but  this  will  not 
carry  him  beyond  the  range  of  the  perceptive 
faculties  of  the  medium,  or  of  some  one  else 
present  in  the  circle.  Hence  the  often  rational 
and  sometimes  highly  intelligent  answers  he 
may  give,  and  hence,  also,  his  invariably  com- 
plete oblivion  of  all  things  unknown  to  that 
medium  or  circle,  or  not  found  in  the  lower 
recollections  of  his  late  personality,  galvanized 


KAMA  LOCA.  161 

afresh  by  the  influences  under  which  he  is 
placed.  The  shell  of  a  highly  intelligent, 
learned,  but  utterly  unspiritual  man,  who  died 
a  natural  death,  will  last  longer  than  those  of 
weaker  temperament,  and  (the  shadow  of  his 
own  memory  helping)  he  may  deliver,  through 
trance-speakers,  orations  of  no  contemptible 
kind.  But  these  will  never  be  found  to  relate 
to  anything  beyond  the  subjects  he  thought 
much  and  earnestly  of  during  life,  nor  will  any 
word  ever  fall  from  him  indicating  a  real  ad- 
vance of  knowledge. 

It  will  easily  be  seen  that  a  shell,  drawn  into 
the  mediumistic  current,  and  getting  into  rap- 
port with  the  medium's  fifth  principle,  is  not 
by  any  means  sure  to  be  animated  with  a  con- 
sciousness (even  for  what  such  consciousnesses 
are  worth)  identical  with  the  personality  of  the 
dead  person  from  whose  higher  principles  it 
was  shed.  It  is  just  as  likely  to  reflect  some 
quite  different  personality,  caught  from  the 
sufjfrestions  of  the  medium's  mind.  In  this 
personality  it  will  perhaps  remain  and  answer 
for  a  time ;  then  some  new  current  of  thought, 
thrown  into  the  minds  of  the  people  present, 
will  find  its  echo  in  the  fleeting  impressions  of 
the  elementary,  and  his  sense  of  identity  will 
begin  to  waver ;  for  a  little  while  it  flickers 
over  two  or  three  conjectures,  and  ends  by  go- 
11 


162  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

ing  out  altogether  for  a  time.  The  shell  is 
once  more  sleeping  in  the  astral  light,  and  may- 
be unconsciously  wafted  in  a  few  moments  to 
the  other  ends  of  the  earth. 

Besides  the  ordinary  elementary  or  shell  of 
the  kind  just  described,  Kama  loca  is  the  abode 
of  another  class  of  astral  entities,  which  must 
be  taken  into  account  if  we  desire  to  compre- 
hend the  various  conditions  under  which  hu- 
man creatures  may  pass  from  this  life  to  others. 
So  far  we  have  been  examining  the  normal 
course  of  events,  when  people  die  in  a  natural 
manner.  But  an  abnormal  death  will  lead  to 
abnormal  consequences.  Thus,  in  the  case  of 
persons  committing  suicide,  and  in  that  of  per- 
sons killed  by  sudden  accident,  results  ensue 
which  differ  widely  from  those  following  nat- 
ural deaths.  A  thoughtful  consideration  of 
such  cases  must  show,  indeed,  that  in  a  world 
governed  by  rule  and  law,  by  affinities  work- 
ing out  their  regular  effects  in  that  deliberate 
way  which  Nature  favors,  the  case  of  a  person 
dying  a  sudden  death  at  a  time  when  all  his 
principles  are  firmly  united,  and  ready  to  hold 
together  for  twenty,  forty,  or  sixty  years,  what- 
ever the  natural  remainder  of  his  life  would  be, 
must  surely  be  something  different  from  that 
of  a  person  who,  by  natural  processes  of  decay, 
finds   himself,   when  the  vital  machine  stops, 


KAMA  LOCA.  165 

readily  separable  into  his  various  principles, 
each  prepared  to  travel  its  separate  way.  Na- 
ture, always  fertile  in  analogies,  at  once  illus- 
trates the  idea  by  showing  us  a  ripe  and  an 
unripe  fruit.  From  out  of  the  first  the  inner 
stone  will  come  away  as  cleanly  and  easily  as  a 
hand  from  a  glove,  while  from  the  unripe  fruit 
the  stone  can  only  be  torn  with  difficulty,  half 
tlie  pulp  clinging  to  its  surface.  Now,  in  the 
case  of  the  sudden  accidental  death  or  of  the 
suicide,  the  stone  has  to  be  torn  from  the  un- 
ripe fruit.  There  is  no  question  here  about  the 
moral  blame  which  may  attach  to  the  act  of 
suicide.  Probably,  in  the  majority  of  cases, 
such  moral  blame  does  attach  to  it,  but  that  is 
a  question  of  Karma  which  will  follow  the  per- 
son concerned  into  the  next  re-birth,  like  any 
other  Karma,  and  has  nothing  to  do  with  the 
immediate  difficulty  such  person  may  find  in 
getting  himself  thoroughly  and  wholesomely 
dead.  This  difficulty  is  manifestly  just  the 
same  whether  a  person  kills  himself,  or  is  killed 
in  the  heroic  discharge  of  duty,  or  dies  the  vic- 
tim of  an  accident  over  which  he  has  no  con- 
trol whatever. 

As  an  ordinary  rule,  when  a  person  dies,  the 
long  account  of  Karma  naturally  closes  itself ; 
that  is  to  say,  the  complicated  set  of  affinities 
which  have  been  set  up  during  life  in  the  first 


164  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

durable  principle,  the  fifth  is  no  longer  suscep- 
tible of  extension.  The  balance-sheet,  so  to 
speak,  is  made  out  afterwards,  when  the  time 
comes  for  the  next  objective  birth  ;  or,  in  other 
words,  the  affinities  long  dormant  in  Devachan, 
by  reason  of  the  absence  there  of  any  scope  for 
their  action,  assert  themselves  as  soon  as  they 
come  in  contact  once  more  with  physical  exis- 
tence. But  the  fifth  principle,  in  which  these 
affinities  are  grown,  cannot  be  separated  in  the 
case  of  the  person  dying  prematurely  from  the 
earthly  principle  —  the  fourth.  The  elemen- 
tary, therefore,  which  finds  itself  in  Kama  loca, 
on  its  violent  expulsion  from  the  body,  is  not  a 
mere  shell  —  it  is  the  person  himself  who  was 
latel}^  alive  minus  nothing  but  the  body.'  In 
the  true  sense  of  the  word  he  is  not  dead  at 
all. 

Certainly  elementaries  of  this  kind  may  com- 
municate very  effectually  at  spiritual  seances  at 
their  own  heavy  cost;  for  they  are  unfortu- 
nately able,  by  reason  of  the  completeness  of 
their  astral  constitution,  to  go  on  generating 
Karma,  to  assuage  their  thirst  for  life  at  the 
unwholesome  spring  of  mediumship.  If  they 
were  of  a  very  material  sensual  type  in  life,  the 
enjoyments  they  will  seek  will  be  of  a  kind  the 
indulgence  of  which  in  their  disembodied  state 
may  readily  be  conceived  even  more  prejudicial 


KAJfA  LOCA.  165 

to  their  Karma  than  similar  indulgences  would 
have  been  in  life.  In  such  cases  facills  est  de- 
scensus. Cut  off  in  the  full  flush  of  earthly- 
passions  which  bind  them  to  familiar  scenes, 
they  are  enticed  by  the  opportunity  which  me- 
diums afford  for  the  gratification  of  these  vica- 
riously. They  become  the  incubi  and  succubi 
of  mediaeval  writing,  demons  of  thirst  and  glut- 
tony, provoking  their  victims  to  crime.  A  brief 
essay  on  this  subject,  which  I  wrote  last  year, 
and  from  which  I  have  reproduced  some  of  the 
sentences  just  given,  appeared  in  "The  Theoso- 
phist,"  with  a  note,  the  authenticity  of  which  I 
have  reason  to  trust,  and  the  tenor  of  which 
was  as  follows  :  — 

"  The  variety  of  states  after  death  is  greater 
if  possible  than  the  variety  of  human  lives  upon 
this  earth.  The  victims  of  accident  do  not 
generally  become  earth  walkers,  only  those  fall- 
inor  into  the  current  of  attraction  who  die  full 
of  some  engrossing  earthly  passion,  the  selfish 
who  have  never  given  a  thought  to  the  welfare 
of  others.  Overtaken  by  death  in  the  consum- 
mation, whether  real  or  imaginary,  of  some 
master  passion  of  their  lives,  the  desire  remain- 
ing unsatisfied  even  after  a  full  realization,  and 
they  still  craving  for  more,  such  personalities 
can  never  pass  beyond  the  earth  attraction  to 
wait  for  the  hour  of  deliverance  in  happy  igno- 


166  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

ranee  and  full  oblivion.  Among  the  suicides, 
those  to  whom  the  above  statement  about  pro- 
voking their  victims  to  crime,  etc.,  applies,  are 
that  class  who  commit  the  act  in  consequence  of 
a  crime  to  escape  the  penalty  of  human  law  or 
their  own  remorse.  Natural  law  cannot  be 
broken  with  impunity  ;  the  inexorable  causal 
relation  between  action  and  result  has  its  full 
sway  only  in  the  world  of  effects,  the  Kama 
loca,  and  every  case  is  met  there  by  an  ade- 
quate punishment,  and  in  a  thousand  waj's, 
that  would  require  volumes  even  to  describe 
them  superficially." 

Those  who  "  wait  for  the  hour  of  deliverance 
in  happy  ignorance  and  full  oblivion  "  are  of 
course  such  victims  of  accident  as  have  already 
on  earth  engendered  pure  and  elevated  affinities, 
and  after  death  are  as  much  beyond  the  reach 
of  temptation  in  the  shape  of  mediumistic  cur- 
rents as  they  would  have  been  inaccessible  in 
life  to  common  incitements  to  crime. 

Entities  of  another  kind  occasionally  to  be 
found  in  Kama  loca  have  yet  to  be  considered. 
We  have  followed  the  higher  principles  of  per- 
sons recently  dead,  observing  the  separation  of 
the  astral  dross  from  the  spiritually  durable 
portion,  that  spiritually  durable  portion  being 
either  holy  or  Satanic  in  its  nature,  and  pro- 
vided for  in  Devachan  or  Avitchi  accordingly 


KAMA  LOCA.  167 

We  have  examined  the  nature  of  the  elemen- 
tary shell  cast  off  and  preservhig  for  a  time  a 
deceptive   resemblance   to  a   true   entity ;    we 
have  paid  attention  also  to  the  exceptional  cases 
of  real  four  principled  beings  in  Kama  loca  who 
are   the  victims  of   accident  or    suicide.     But 
•what  happens  to  a  personality  which  has  abso- 
lutely no  atom  of  spirituality,  no  trace  of  spir- 
itual affinity  in  its  fifth  principle,  either  of  the 
good  or  bad  sort  ?     Clearly  in  such  a  case  there 
is  nothing  for  the  sixth  principle  to  attract  to 
itself.     Or,  in  other  words,  such  a  personality 
has  already  lost  its  sixth  principle  by  the  time 
death  comes.     But  Kama  loca  is   no  more  a 
sphere  of  existence  for  such  a  personality  than 
the   subjective  world ;  Kama  loca  may  be  per- 
manently inhabited   by  astral  beings,   by  ele- 
mentals,   but  can  only  be   an  antechamber  to 
some  other  state  for  human  beings.     In  the  case 
imagined,  the  surviving  personality  is  promptly 
drawn  into  the  current  of  its  future  destinies, 
and  these  have  nothing  to  do  with  this  earth's 
atmosphere  or  with  Devachan,  but  with  that 
"  eighth  sphere  "  of  which  occasional  mention 
will  be  found  in  older  occult  writings.     It  will 
have  been    unintelligible   to    ordinary    readers 
hitherto  why  it  was  called  the  ''  eighth  "  sphere, 
but  since  the  explanation,  now  given  out  for  the 
first  time,  of  the  sevenfold  constitution  of  our 


168  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

planetary  system,  the  meaning  will  be  clear 
enougli.  The  spheres  of  the  cyclic  process  of 
evolution  are  seven  in  number,  but  there  is  an 
eighth  in  connection  with  our  earth,  our  earth 
being,  it  will  be  remembered,  the  turning-point 
in  the  cyclic  chain,  and  this  eighth  sphere  is 
out  of  circuit,  a  cul  de  sac^  and  the  bourne  from 
which  it  may  be  truly  said  no  traveler  returns. 

It  will  readily  be  guessed  that  the  only  sphere 
connected  with  our  planetary  chain,  which  is 
lower  than  our  own  in  the  scale,  having  spirit 
at  the  top  and  matter  at  the  bottom,  must  it- 
self be  no  less  visible  to  the  eye  and  to  optical 
instruments  than  the  earth  itself,  and  as  the 
duties  which  this  sphere  has  to  perform  in  our 
planetary  system  are  immediately  associated 
with  this  earth,  there  is  not  much  mystery  left 
now  in  the  riddle  of  the  eighth  sphere,  nor  as 
to  the  place  in  the  sky  where  it  may  be  sought. 
The  conditions  of  existence  there,  however,  are 
topics  on  which  the  adepts  are  very  reserved  in 
their  communications  to  uninitiated  pupils,  and 
concerning  these  I  have  for  the  present  no  fur- 
ther information  to  give. 

One  statement  though  is  definitely  made, 
viz.,  that  such  a  total  degradation  of  a  person- 
ality as  may  suffice  to  draw  it,  after  death, 
into  the  attraction  of  tlie  eighth  sphere,  is  of 
very  rare  occurrence.     From  the  vast  majority 


KAMA  LOCA.  169 

of  lives  there  is  something  which  the  higher 
principles  may  draw  to  themselves,  something 
to  redeem  the  page  of  existence  just  passed 
from  total  destruction :  and  here  it  must  be 
remembered  that  the  recollections  of  life  in 
Devachan,  very  vivid  as  they  are,  as  far  as  they 
go,  touch  only  those  episodes  in  life  which  are 
productive  of  the  elevated  sort  of  happiness  of 
which  alone  Devachan  is  qualified  to  take  cog- 
nizance ;  whereas  the  life  from  which  for  the 
time  being  the  cream  is  thus  skimmed  may 
come  to  be  remembered  eventually  in  all  its 
details  quite  fully.  That  complete  remem- 
brance is  only  achieved  by  the  individual  at 
the  threshold  of  a  far  more  exalted  spiritual 
state  than  that  which  we  are  now  concerned 
with,  and  which  is  attained  far  later  on  in  the 
progress  of  the  vast  cycles  of  evolution.  Each 
one  of  the  long  series  of  lives  that  will  have 
been  passed  through  will  then  be,  as  it  were,  a 
page  in  a  book  to  which  the  possessor  can  turn 
back  at  pleasure,  even  though  many  such  pages 
will  then  seem  to  him,  most  likely,  very  dull 
reading,  and  will  not  be  frequently  referred  to. 
It  is  this  revival  eventually  of  recollection  con- 
cerning all  the  long-forgotten  personalities  that 
is  really  meant  by  the  doctrine  of  the  Resurrec- 
tion. But  we  have  no  time  at  present  to  stop 
and  unravel  the  enigmas  of  symbolism  as  bear- 


170  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

ing  upon  the  teacliings  at  present  under  con- 
veyance to  the  reader.  It  may  be  worth  while 
to  do  this  as  a  separate  undertaking  at  a  later 
period ;  but  meanwhile,  to  revert  to  the  narra- 
tive of  how  the  facts  stand,  it  may  be  explained 
that  in  the  whole  book  of  pages,  when  at  last 
the  "resurrection"  has  been  accomplished, 
there  will  be  no  entirely  infamous  pages  ;  for 
even  if  any  given  spiritual  individuality  has 
occasionally,  during  its  passage  through  this 
world,  been  linked  with  personalities  so  deplor- 
ably and  desperately  degraded  that  they  have 
passed  completely  into  the  attraction  of  the 
lower  vortex,  that  spiritual  individuality  in 
such  cases  will  have  retained  in  its  own  affini- 
ties no  trace  or  taint  of  them.  Those  pages 
will,  as  it  were,  have  been  cleanly  torn  out  from 
the  book.  And,  as  at  the  end  of  the  struggle, 
after  crossing  the  Kama  loca,  the  spiritual  indi- 
viduality will  have  passed  into  the  unconscious 
gestation  state  from  which,  skipping  the  Deva- 
chan  state,  it  will  be  directly  (though  not 
immediately  in  time)  re-born  into  its  next  life 
of  objective  activity,  all  the  self-consciousness 
connected  with  that  existence  will  have  passed 
into  the  lower  world,  there  eventually  to  "  per- 
ish everlastingly ;  "  an  expression  of  which,  as 
of  so  many  more,  modern  theology  has  proved 
a  faithless  custodian,  making  pure  nonsense 
out  of  psycho-scientific  facts. 


CHAPTER  VIL 
THE  HUMAN  TIDE- WAVE. 

A  GENERAL  account  has  already  been  given 
of  the  way  in  which  the  great  evolutionary 
life-wave  sweeps  round  and  round  the  seven 
worlds  which  compose  the  planetary  chain  of 
which  our  earth  is  a  part.  Further  assistance 
may  now  be  offered,  with  the  view  of  expanding 
this  general  idea  into  a  fuller  comprehension  of 
the  processes  to  which  it  relates.  And  no  one 
additional  chapter  of  the  great  story  will  do 
more  towards  rendering  its  character  intelligi- 
ble than  an  explanation  of  certain  phenomena 
connected  with  the  progress  of  worlds,  that 
may  be  conveniently  called  obscurations. 

Students  of  occult  philosophy  who  enter  on 
that  pursuit  with  minds  already  abundantly 
furnished  in  other  ways  are  very  liable  to  mis- 
interpret its  earlier  statements.  Everything 
cannot  be  said  at  once,  and  the  first  broad 
explanations  are  apt  to  suggest  conceptions  in 
regard  to  details  which  are  most  likely  to  be 
erroneous   with    the    most   active-minded   and 


172  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

intelligent  thinkers.  Such  readers  are  not  con- 
tent with  shadowy  outlines  even  for  a  moment. 
Imagination  fills  in  the  picture,  and  if  its  work 
is  undisturbed  for  any  length  of  time,  the  au- 
thor of  it  will  be  surprised  afterwards  to  find 
that  later  information  is  incompatible  with  that 
which  he  had  come  to  regard  as  having  been 
distinctly  taught  in  the  beginning.  Now  in 
this  treatise  the  writer's  effort  is  to  convey 
the  information  in  such  a  way  that  hasty  weed- 
growths  of  the  mind  may  be  prevented  as  far 
as  possible ;  but  in  this  very  effort  it  is  neces- 
sary sometimes  to  run  on  quickly  in  advance, 
leaving  some  details,  even  very  important  de- 
tails, to  be  picked  up  during  a  second  journey 
over  the  old  ground.  So  now  the  reader  must 
be  good  enough  to  go  back  to  the  explanation 
given  in  Chapter  III.  of  the  evolutionary  prog- 
ress through  the  whole  planetary  chain. 

Some  few  words  were  said  then  concerning 
the  manner  in  which  the  life  impulse  passed  on 
from  planet  to  planet  in  "  rushes  or  gushes  ; 
not  by  an  even  continuous  flow."  Now  the 
course  of  evolution  in  its  earlier  stages  is  so 
far  continuous  that  the  preparation  of  several 
planets  for  the  final  tidal-wave  of  humanity 
may  be  going  on  simultaneously.  Indeed,  the 
preparation  of  all  the  seven  planets  may,  at  one 
stage  of  the  proceedings,  be  going  on  simulta» 


THE  HUMAN  TIDE-WAVE.  173 

neonsly,  but  the  important  point  to  remember 
is  tliat  the  main  wave  of  evolution  —  the  fore- 
most growing  wave  —  cannot  be  in  more  than 
one  place  at  a  time.  The  process  goes  on  in 
tlie  way  which  may  now  be  described,  and 
"which  the  reader  may  be  the  better  able  to  fol- 
low, if  he  constructs  either  on  paper  or  in  his 
own  mind  a  diagram  consisting  of  seven  circles 
(representing  the  worlds)  arranged  in  a  ring. 
Calling  them  A,  B,  C,  etc.,  it  wdll  be  observed 
from  what  has  been  already  stated  that  circle 
(or  globe)  D  stands  for  our  earth.  Now  the 
kingdoms  of  Nature  as  known  to  occultists,  be 
it  remembered,  are  seven  in  number ;  three  hav- 
ing to  do  with  astral  and  elementary  forces, 
preceding  the  grosser  material  kingdoms  in  the 
order  of  their  development.  Kingdom  1  evolves 
on  globe  A,  and  passes  on  to  B,  as  kingdom  2 
begins  to  evolve  on  A.  Carry  out  this  system 
and  of  course  it  will  be  seen  that  kingdom  1  is 
evolving  on  globe  G,  while  kingdom  7,  the  hu- 
man kingdom,  is  evolving  on  globe  A.  But 
noAV  what  happens  as  kingdom  7  passes  on  to 
globe  B  ?  There  is  no  eighth  kingdom  to  en- 
gage the  activities  of  globe  A.  The  great  pro- 
cesses of  evolution  have  culminated  in  the  final 
tidal-wave  of  humanity,  which,  as  it  sweeps  on, 
leaves  a  temporary  lethargy  of  Nature  behind. 
When  the  life-wave  goes  on  to  B,  in  fact,  globe 


174  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

A  passes  for  the  time  into  a  state  of  obscura- 
tion. This  state  is  not  one  of  decay,  dissolu- 
tion, or  anything  that  can  be  properly  called 
death.  Decay  itself,  though  its  aspect  is  apt 
to  mislead  the  mind,  is  a  condition  of  activity 
in  a  certain  direction,  this  consideration  afford- 
ing a  clue  to  the  meaning  of  a  great  deal  which 
is  otherwise  meaningless  in  that  part  of  Hindu 
mythology  which  relates  to  the  deities  presid- 
ing over  destruction.  The  obscuration  of  a 
world  is  a  total  suspension  of  its  activity ;  this 
does  not  mean  that  the  moment  the  last  human 
monad  passes  on  from  any  given  world  that 
world  is  paralyzed  by  any  convulsion,  or  sub- 
sides into  the  enchanted  trance  of  a  sleej^ing 
palace.  The  animal  and  vegetable  life  goes  on 
as  before,  for  a  time,  but  its  character  begins  to 
recede  instead  of  advancing.  Tlie  great  life- 
wave  has  left  it,  and  the  animal  and  vegetable 
kingdoms  gradually  return  to  the  condition  in 
which  they  were  found  when  the  great  life- 
wave  first  reached  them.  Enormous  periods  of 
time  are  available  for  this  slow  process  by 
which  the  obscured  world  settles  into  sleep,  for 
it  will  be  seen  that  obscuration  in  each  case 
lasts  six  times  ^  as  long  as  the  period  of  each 

1  Or  we  may  say  five  times,  allowing  for  tlic  half  period  of 
morning  which  precedes  and  the  half  period  of  evening  which  fol' 
lows  the  dav  of  full  activity. 


TEE  HUMAN  TIDE-WAVE.  175 

world's  occupation  by  the  human  life-wave. 
That  is  to  say,  the  process  which  is  accom- 
plished as  above  described  in  connection  with 
the  passage  of  the  life-wave  from  globe  A  to 
globe  B  is  repeated  all  along  the  chain.  When 
the  wave  passes  to  C,  B  is  left  in  obscuration 
as  well  as  A.  Then  D  receives  the  life-wave, 
and  A,  B,  C  are  in  obscuration.  When  the 
wave  reaches  G,  all  the  preceding  six  worlds 
are  in  obscuration.  Meanwhile  the  life-wave 
passes  on  in  a  certain  regular  progression,  the 
symmetrical  character  of  which  is  very  satis- 
factory to  scientific  instincts.  The  reader  will 
be  prepared  to  pick  up  the  idea  at  once,  in 
view  of  the  explanations  already  given  of  the 
way  in  which  humanity  evolves  through  seven 
great  races,  during  each  round  period  on  a 
planet;  that  is  to  say,  during  the  occupation 
of  such  planet  by  the  tidal  wave  of  life.  The 
fourth  race  is  obviously  the  middle  race  of  the 
series.  As  soon  as  this  middle  point  is  turned, 
and  the  evolution  of  the  fifth  race  on  an}^  given 
planet  begins,  the  preparation  for  humanity  be- 
gins on  the  next.  The  evolution  of  the  fifth 
^race  on  E,  for  example,  is  commensurate  with 
the  evolution,  or  rather  with  the  revival,  of  the 
mineral  kingdom  on  p,  and  so  on.  That  is  to 
say,  the  evolution  of  the  sixth  race  on  D  coin- 
cides with  the  revival  of  the  vegetable  kingdom 


176  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

on  E ;  the  seventh  race  on  D  with  the  revival 
of  the  animal  kingdom  on  E  ;  and  then  when 
the  hist  monads  of  the  seventh  race  on  D  have 
passed  into  the  subjective  state  or  world  of  ef- 
fects, the  human  period  on  E  begins,  and  the 
first  race  begins  its  development  there.  Mean- 
while the  twilight  period  on  the  world  preced- 
ing D  has  been  deepening  into  the  night  of  ob- 
scuration in  the  same  progressive  wa}^,  and 
obscuration  there  definitely  sets  in  when  the 
human  period  on  D  passes  its  half-way  point. 
But  just  as  the  heart  of  a  man  beats  and  respi- 
ration continues,  no  matter  how  profound  his 
sleep,  there  are  processes  of  vital  action  which 
go  on  in  the  resting  world  even  during  the  most 
profound  depths  of  its  repose.  And  these  pre- 
serve, in  view  of  the  next  return  of  the  human 
wave,  the  results  of  the  evolution  that  preceded 
its  first  arrival.  Recovery  for  the  re-awaking 
planet  is  a  larger  process  than  its  subsidence 
into  rest,  for  it  has  to  attain  a  higher  degree  of 
perfection  against  the  return  of  the  human  life- 
wave  than  that  at  which  it  was  left  when  the 
wave  last  went  onward  from  its  shore.  Bat 
with  every  new  beginning,  Nature  is  infused 
with  a  vigor  of  its  own,  —  the  freshness  of  a 
morning,  —  and  the  later  obscuration  period, 
which  is  a  time  of  preparation  and  hopefulness 
as  it  were,  invests  evolution  itself  with  a  new 


THE  HUMAN  TIDE- WAVE.  1T7 

momentum.  By  the  time  the  great  life-wave 
returns,  all  is  ready  for  its  reception. 

In  the  first  essay  on  this  subject  it  was 
roughly  indicated  that  the  various  worlds  mak- 
ing up  our  planetary  chain  were  not  all  of  the 
same  materiality.  Putting  the  conception  of 
spirit  at  the  north  pole  of  the  circle  and  that  of 
matter  at  the  south  pole,  the  worlds  of  the  de- 
scending arc  vary  in  materiality  and  spiritual- 
ity, like  those  of  the  ascending  arc.  This  varia- 
tion must  now  be  considered  more  attentively 
if  the  reader  wishes  to  realize  the  whole  pro- 
cesses of  evolution  more  fully  than  heretofore. 

Besides  the  earth,  which  is  at  the  lowest  ma- 
terial point,  there  are  only  two  other  worlds  of 
our  chain  which  are  visible  to  physical  eyes,  — 
the  one  behind  and  the  one  in  advance  of  it. 
These  two  worlds,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  are  Mars 
and  Mercury,  —  Mars  being  behind  and  Mer- 
cury in  advance  of  us :  Mars  in  a  state  of  en- 
tire obscuration  now  as  regards  the  human  life- 
wave,  Mercury  just  beginning  to  prepare  for  its 
next  human  period.^ 

1  It  may  be  worth  while  here  to  remark  for  the  benefit  of  people 
who  may  be  disposed,  from  physical  science  reading,  to  object 
that  Mercury  is  too  near  the  Sun,  and  consequently  too  hot  to  be  a 
suitable  place  of  habitation  for  man,  that  in  the  olhcial  report  of 
the  Astronomical  Department  of  the  United  States  on  the  recent 
"Mount  AVhitney  observations"  statements  will  be  found  that 
may  check  too  confident  critici:?ma  of  occult  science  along  that  line. 
12 


178  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

The  two  planets  of  our  chain  that  are  behind 
Mars,  and  the  two  that  are  in  advance  of  Mer- 
cury, are  not  composed  of  an  order  of  matter 
which  telescopes  can  take  cognizance  of.  Four 
out  of  the  seven  are  thus  of  an  ethereal  nature, 
which  people  who  can  only  conceive  matter  in 
its  earthly  form  will  be  inclined  to  call  immate- 
rial. But  they  are  not  really  immaterial  at  all. 
They  are  simply  in  a  finer  state  of  materiality 
than  the  earth,  but  their  finer  state  does  not  in 
any  way  defeat  the  uniformity  of  Nature's  de- 
sign in  regard  to  the  methods  and  stages  of  their 

The  results  of  the  Mount  Whitney  observations  on  selective  absorp- 
tion of  solar  rays  showed,  according  to  the  official  reporter,  that  it 
would  no  longer  be  impossible  to  suggest  the  conditions  of  an  at- 
mosphere which  should  render  Mercury  habitable  at  the  one  ex- 
treme of  the  scale,  and  Saturn  at  the  other.  We  have  no  concern 
with  Saturn  at  present,  nor,  if  it  were  necessary  to  explain  on  oc- 
cult principles  the  habitability  of  Mercury,  should  the  task  be  at- 
tempted with  calculations  about  selective  absorption.  The  fact  is 
that  ordinary  science  makes  at  once  too  much  and  too  little  of  the 
Sun,  as  the  storehouse  of  force  for  the  solar  system,  — too  much  in 
so  far  as  the  heat  of  planets  has  a  great  deal  to  do  with  another  in- 
fluence quite  distinct  from  the  Sun,  an  influence  Avhich  will  not  be 
thoroughly  understood  till  more  is  known  than  at  present  about  the 
correlations  of  heat  and  magnetism,  and  of  the  magnetic,  meteoric 
dust,  with  which  inter-planetar}'  space  is  pervaded.  However,  it 
is  enough  —  to  rebut  any  objection  that  might  be  raised  against 
Ihe  explanations  now  in  progress,  from  the  point  of  view  of  loyal 
devotees  of  last  year's  science  —  to  point  out  that  such  objections 
would  be  already  out  of  date.  Modern  science  is  very  progressive, 
—  this  is  one  of  its  greatest  merits, — but  it  is  not  a  meritorioua 
habit  with  modern  scientists  to  think,  at  each  stage  of  its  progress, 
)hat  all  conceptions  incompatible  with  that  stage  must  necessaril;y 
^e  absurd. 


THE  HUMAN  TIDE- WAVE.  179 

evolution.     Within   the    scale  of  their   subtle 
"invisibility,"  the  successive  rounds  and  races 
of  mankind  pass  through  their  stages  of  greater 
and  less  materiality  just  as  on  this  earth  ;  but 
whoever  would  comprehend  them  must  compre- 
hend this  earth  first,  and  work  out  their  deli- 
cate phenomena  by  correspondential  inferences. 
Let  us  return,  therefore,  to  the  consideration  of 
the  great  life-wave  in  its  aspects  on  this  planet. 
Just  as  the  chain  of  worlds  treated  as  a  unity 
has  its  north  and  south,  its  spiritual  and  ma- 
terial,   pole,   working    from    spirituality    down 
through  materiality  up  to  spirituality  again,  so 
the  rounds  of  mankind  constitute  a  similar  se- 
ries which  the  chain  of  globes  itself  might  be 
taken  to  symbolize.     In  the  evolution  of  man 
in  fact,  on  any  one  plane  as  on  all,  there  is  a 
descending  and  an  ascending  arc  ;  spirit,  so  to 
speak,  involving  itself  into  matter,  and  matter 
evolving  itself  into  spirit.     The  lowest  or  most 
material  point  in  the    cycle  thus  becomes  the 
inverted  apex  of  physical  intelligence,  which  is 
the  masked    manifestation   of  spiritual   intelli- 
gence.    Each  round  of  mankind  evolved  on  the 
downward  arc  (as  each  race  of  each  round  if 
we  descend  to  the  smaller  mirror  of  the  cosmos) 
must  thus  be  more  physically  intelligent  than 
its  predecessor,  and    each   in    the    upward    arc 
must  be  invested  with  a  more  refined  form  of 


180  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

mentality  commingled  with  greater  spiritual  in- 
tuitiveness.  In  the  first  round,  therefore,  we 
find  man  a  relatively  ethereal  being  compared 
even  on  earth  w^ith  the  state  he  has  now  at- 
tained here,  not  intellectual,  bat  super-spiritual. 
Like  the  animal  and  vegetable  shapes  around 
him,  he  inhabits  an  immense  but  loosely  organ- 
ized body.  In  the  second  round  he  is  still  gi- 
gantic and  ethereal,  but  growing  firmer  and 
more  condensed  in  body,  —  a  more  physical 
man,  but  still  less  intelligent  than  spiritual. 
In  the  third  round  he  has  developed  a  perfectly 
concrete  and  compacted  body,  at  first  the  form 
rather  of  a  giant  ape  than  of  a  true  man,  but 
with  intelligence  coming  more  and  more  into 
the  ascendant.  In  the  last  half  of  the  third 
round  his  gigantic  stature  decreases,  his  body 
improves  in  texture,  and  he  begins  to  be  a  ra- 
tional man.  In  the  fourth  round  intellect,  now 
fully  developed,  achieves  enormous  progress. 
The  direct  races  with  which  the  round  begins 
acquire  human  speech  as  we  understand  it. 
The  world  teems  with  the  results  of  intellectual 
activity  and  spiritual  decline.  At  the  half-way 
point  of  the  fourth  round  here  the  polar  point 
of  the  whole  seven-world  period  is  passed. 
From  this  point  outwards  the  spiritual  Ego 
begins  its  real  struggle  with  body  and  mind 
to    manifest   its    transcendental    powers.      In 


TEE  HUMAN  TIDE-WAVE.  181 

the  fifth  round  the  struggle  continues,  but  the 
transcendental  faculties  are  largely  developed, 
though  the  struggle  between  these  on  the  one 
hand  with  physical  intellect  and  propensity  is 
fiercer  than  ever,  for  the  intellect  of  the  fifth 
round  as  well  as  its  spirituality  is  an  advance 
on  that  of  the  fourth.  In  the  sixth  round 
humanity  attains  a  degree  of  perfection  both 
of  body  and  soul,  of  intellect  and  spirituality, 
which  ordinary  mortals  of  the  present  epoch 
will  not  readily  realize  in  their  imaginations. 
The  most  supreme  combinations  of  wisdom, 
goodness,  and  transcendental  enlightenment 
ivhich  the  world  has  ever  seen  or  thought  of 
will  represent  the  ordinary  type  of  manhood. 
Those  faculties  which  now,  in  the  rare  efflores- 
cence of  a  generation,  enable  some  extraordi- 
narily gifted  persons  to  explore  the  mysteries 
of  Nature  and  gather  the  knowledge  of  which 
some  crumbs  are  now  being  offered  (through 
these  writings  and  in  other  ways)  to  the  ordi- 
nary world,  will  then  be  the  common  appanage 
of  all.  As  to  what  the  seventh  round  will  be 
like,  the  most  communicative  occult  teachers 
are  solemnly  silent.  Mankind  in  the  seventh 
round  will  be  something  altogether  too  God- 
like for  mankind  in  the  fourth  round  to  fore- 
cast its  attributes. 

During  the  occupation  of  any  planet  by  the 


182  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

human  life-wave,  each  individual  monad  is 
inevitably  incarnated  many  times.  This  has 
been  partly  explained.  If  one  existence  only 
be  passed  by  the  monad  in  each  of  the  branch 
races  through  which  it  must  pass  at  least  once, 
the  total  number  accomplished  during  a  round 
period  on  one  planet  would  be  343,  —  the  third 
power  of  seven.  But  as  a  matter  of  fact  each 
monad  is  incarnated  twice  in  each  of  the 
branch  races,  and  also  comes  in,  necessarily,  for 
some  few  extra  incarnations  as  well.  For  rea- 
sons which  are  not  easy  for  the  outsider  to  di- 
vine, the  possessors  of  occult  knowledge  are 
especially  reluctant  to  give  out  numerical  facts 
relating  to  cosmogony,  though  it  is  hard  for  the 
uninitiated  to  understand  why  tliese  should  be 
withheld.  At  present,  for  example,  we  shall 
not  be  able  to  state  what  is  the  actual  duration 
in  years  of  the  round  period.  But  a  concession, 
which  only  those  who  have  long  been  students 
of  occultism  by  the  old  method  will  fully  appre- 
ciate, has  been  made  about  the  numbers  with 
which  we  are  immediately  concerned  ;  and  this 
concession  is  valuable  at  all  events,  as  it  helps 
to  elucidate  an  interesting  fact  connected  with 
evolution,  on  the  threshold  of  Avhich  we  have 
now  arrived.  This  fact  is  that  while  the  earth, 
for  example,  is  inhabited,  as  at  present,  by 
fourth-round  humanity,  by  the  wave  of  human 


THE  HUMAN  TIDE-WAVE.  183 

life,  that  is  to  say,  on  its  fourth  journey  round 
the  cu-cle  of  the  worlds,  there  may  be  present 
among  us  some  few  persons,  few  in  relation  to 
the  total  number,  who,  properly  speaking,  be- 
loncr  to  the  fifth  round.     Now,  in  the  sense  of 
the  term  at  present  employed,  it  must  not  be 
supposed  that  by  any  miraculous  process  any 
individual  unit  has  actually  traveled  round  the 
whole  chain  of  worlds  once  more  often  than  his 
compeers.     Under  the  explanations  just  given 
as  to  the  way  the  tide-wave  of  humanity  pro- 
gresses, it  will  be  seen  that  this  is  impossible. 
Humanity  has  not  yet  paid  its  fifth  visit  even 
to  the  planet  next  in  advance  of  our  own.    But 
individual  monads  may  outstrip  their  compan- 
ions as  regards    their  individual  development, 
and  so  become  exactly  as  mankind  generally  will 
be  when  the  fifth  round  has  been  fully  evolved. 
And  this  may  be  accomplished  in   two  ways : 
A  man  born  as  an  ordinary  fourth-round  man 
may,  by  processes  of   occult   training,  convert 
himself  into  a  man  having  all  the  attributes  of 
a  fifth-round  man,  and  so  become  what  we  may 
call  an  artificial  fifth  rounder.     But  indepen- 
dently of  all  exertions  made  by  man  in  his  pres- 
ent incarnation,  a  man  may  also  be  born  a  fifth 
rounder,   though  in   the  midst  of  fourth-round 
humanity  by  virtue  of  the  total  number  of  his 
previous  incarnations. 


184  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

If  X  stands  for  the  normal  number  of  incarna- 
tions which  in  the  course  of  Nature  a  monad 
must  go  through  during  a  round  period  on  one 
planet,  and  y  for  the  margin  of  extra  incarna- 
tions into  which  by  a  strong  desire  for  phys- 
ical life  he  may  force  himself  during  such  a 
period,  then,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  24^  (x  -\-  y) 
may  exceed  28  x  ;  that  is  to  say,  in  3^  rounds 
a  monad  may  have  accomplished  as  many  in- 
carnations as  an  ordinary  monad  would  have 
accomplished  in  four  complete  rounds.  In  less 
than  3i  rounds  the  result  could  not  have  been 
attained,  so  that  it  is  only  now  that  we  have 
passed  the  half-way  point  of  evolution  on  this 
half-way  planet  that  the  fifth  roundel's  are  be- 
ginning to  drop  in. 

It  is  not  possible  in  the  nature  of  things  that 
a  monad  can  do  more  than  outstrip  his  com- 
panions by  more  than  one  round.  This  consid- 
eration, notwithstanding  Buddha  was  a  sixth- 
round  man ;  but  this  fact  has  to  do  with  a  great 
mystery  outside  the  limits  of  the  present  calcu- 
lation. Enough  for  the  moment  to  say  that 
the  evolution  of  a  Buddha  has  to  do  with  some- 
thing more  than  mere  incarnations  within  the 
limits  of  one  planetary  chain. 

Since  large  numbers  of  lives  have  been  recog 
nized  in  the  above  calculations  as  following  one 
another  in   the  successive   incarnations  of  an 


THE  HUMAN  TIDE- WAVE.  185 

individual  monad,  it  is  important  here,  with 
the  view  of  averting  misconceptions,  to  point 
out  that  the  periods  of  time  over  which  these 
incarnations  range  are  so  great  that  vast  inter- 
vals separate  them,  numerous  as  they  are.  As 
stated  above,  we  cannot  just  now  give  the  act- 
ual duration  of  the  round  periods.  Nor,  indeed, 
could  any  figures  be  quoted  as  indicating  the 
duration  of  all  round  periods  equally,  for  these 
vary  in  length  within  very  wide  limits.  But 
here  is  a  simple  fact  which  has  been  definitely 
stated  on  the  highest  occult  authority  we  are 
concerned  with.  The  present  race  of  human- 
ity, the  present  fifth  race  of  the  fourth-round 
period,  began  to  evolve  about  one  million  of 
years  ago.  Now  it  is  not  yet  finished  ;  but 
supposing  that  a  million  years  had  constituted 
the  complete  life  of  the  race,i  how  would  it 
have  been  divided  up  for  each  individual 
monad  ?  In  a  race  there  must  be  rather  more 
than  100,  and  there  can  hardly  be  120,  incarna- 
tions for  an  individual  monad.  But  say  even 
there  have  been  already  120  incarnations  for 

1  The  complete  life  of  a  race  is  certainly  much  longer  than 
this;  but  when  we  get  to  figures  of  this  kind  we  are  on  very  deli- 
cate ground,  for  precise  periods  are  very  profound  secrets,  for  rea- 
sons uninitiated  students  ("lay  chelas,"  as  the  adepts  now  say, 
coining  a  new  designation  to  meet  a  new  condition  of  things)  can 
only  imperfectly  divine.  Calculations  like  those  given  above  may 
be  trusted  literally  as  far  as  they  go,  but  must  not  rashly  be  made 
the  basis  of  others. 


186  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

monads  in  the  present  race  already,  and  say 
that  the  average  life  of  each  incarnation  was  a 
century  ;  even  then  we  should  only  have  12,000 
years  out  of  the  million  spent  in  physical  ex- 
istence against  988,000  years  spent  in  the  sub- 
jective sphere,  or  there  would  be  an  average  of 
more  than  8,000  years  between  each  incarna- 
tion. Certainly  these  intervening  periods  are 
of  very  variable  length,  but  they  can  hardly 
even  contract  to  anything  less  than  1,500  years, 
—  leaving  out  of  account,  of  course,  the  case  of 
adepts  who  have  placed  themselves  quite  out- 
side the  operation  of  the  ordinary  law,  —  and 
1,500  years,  if  not  an  impossibly  short,  would 
be  a  very  brief,  interval  between  two  rebirths. 

These  calculations  must  be  qualified  by  one 
or  two  considerations,  however.  The  cases  of 
children  dying  in  infancy  are  quite  unlike  those 
of  persons  who  attain  full  maturity,  and  for 
obvious  reasons,  that  the  explanations  now  al- 
ready given  will  suggest.  A  child  dying  be- 
fore it  has  lived  long  enough  to  begin  to  be 
responsible  for  its  actions  has  generated  no 
fresh  Karma.  The  spiritual  monad  leaves  that 
child's  body  in  just  the  same  state  in  which  ifc 
entered  it  after  its  last  death  in  Devachan.  It 
has  had  no  opportunity  of  playing  on  its  new 
instrument,  which  has  been  broken  before  even 
it  was  tuned.     A  re-incarnation  of  the  monad, 


THE  HUMAN  TIDE-WAVE.  187 

therefore,  may  take  place  immediately,  on  the 
line  of  its  old  attraction.  But  the  monad  so 
re-incarnated  is  not  to  be  spiritually  identified 
in  any  way  with  the  dead  child.  So,  in  the 
same  way,  with  a  monad  getting  into  the  body 
of  a  born  idiot.  The  instrument  cannot  be 
tuned,  so  it  cannot  play  on  that  any  more  than 
on  the  child's  body  in  the  first  few  years  of 
childhood.  But  both  these  cases  are  manifest 
exceptions  that  do  not  alter  the  broad  rule 
above  laid  down  for  all  persons  attaining  ma- 
turity, and  living  their  earth  lives  for  good  or 
evil. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE  PEOGRESS  OF   HUMANITY. 

The  course  of  Nature  provides,  as  the  reader 
will  now  have  seen,  for  the  indefinite  prog- 
ress towards  higher  phases  of  existence  of  all 
human  entities.  But  no  less  will  it  have  been 
seen  that  by  endowing  these  entities,  as  they 
advance,  with  ever-increasing  faculties  and  by 
constantly  enlarging  the  scope  of  their  activity. 
Nature  also  furnishes  each  human  entity  with 
more  and  more  decisive  opportunities  of  choos- 
ing between  good  and  evil.  In  the  earlier 
rounds  of  humanity  this  privilege  of  selection 
is  not  fully  developed,  and  responsibility  of  ac- 
tion is  correspondingly  incomplete.  The  ear- 
lier rounds  of  humanity,  in  fact,  do  not  invest 
the  Ego  with  spiritual  responsibility  at  all,  in 
the  larger  sense  of  the  term  which  we  are  now 
approaching.  The  Devachanic  periods  which 
follow  each  objective  existence  in  turn  dispose 
fully  of  its  merits  and  demerits,  and  the  most 
deplorable  personality  which  the  Ego  during  the 
first  half  of  its  evolution  can  possibly  develop 


THE  PROGRESS   OF  HUMANITY.  189 

is  merely  dropped  out  of  tlie  account  as  regards 
the  larger  undertaking,  while  the  erring  per- 
sonality itself  pays  its  relatively  brief  penalty, 
and  troubles  Nature  no  more.  But  the  second 
half  of  the  great  evolutionary  period  is  carried 
on  on  different  principles.  The  phases  of  exist- 
ence which  are  now  coming  into  view  cannot 
be  entered  upon  by  the  Ego  without  positive 
merits  of  its  own  appropriate  to  the  new  devel- 
opments in  prospect ;  it  is  not  enough  that  the 
now  fully  responsible  and  highly  gifted  being 
which  man  becomes  at  the  great  turning-point 
in  his  career  should  float  idly  on  the  stream  of 
progress ;  he  must  begin  to  swim,  if  lie  wishes 
to  push  his  way  forward. 

Debarred  by  the  complexity  of  the  subject 
from  dealing:  with  all  its  features  simultane- 
ously,  our  survey  of  Nature  has  so  far  contem- 
plated the  seven  rounds  of  human  development, 
which  constitute  the  whole  planetary  undertak- 
ing with  which  we  are  concerned,  as  a  continu- 
ous series  throughout  which  it  is  the  natural 
destiny  of  humanity  in  general  to  pass.  But  it 
will  be  remembered  that  humanity  in  the  sixth 
round  has  been  spoken  of  so  highly  developed 
that  the  sublime  attributes  and  faculties  of  the 
highest  adeptship  are  the  common  appanage  of 
all ;  while  in  the  seventh  round  the  race  has 
almost  emerged  from  humanity  into  divinity. 


190  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

Now  every  human  being  in  this  stage  of  devel- 
opment Avill  still  be  identified  by  an  uninter- 
rupted connection  with  all  the  personalities 
which  have  been  strung  upon  that  thread  of 
life  from  the  beginning  of  the  great  evolution- 
ary process.  Is  it  conceivable  that  the  charac- 
ter of  such  personalities  is  of  no  consequence  in 
the  long  run,  and  that  two  God-like  beings 
might  stand  side  by  side  in  the  seventh  round, 
developed,  the  one  from  a  long  series  of  blame- 
less and  serviceable  existences,  the  other  from 
an  equally  long  series  of  evil  and  groveling 
lives?  That  surely  could  not  come  to  pass, 
and  we  have  to  ask  now,  How  do  we  find  the 
congruities  of  Nature  preserved  compatibly 
with  the  appointed  evolution  of  humanity  to 
the  higher  forms  of  existence  which  crown  the 
edifice  ? 

Just  as  childhood  is  irresponsible  for  its  acts, 
the  earlier  races  of  humanity  are  irresponsible 
for  theirs  ;  but  there  comes  the  period  of  full 
growth,  when  the  complete  development  of  the 
faculties  which  enable  the  individual  man  to 
choose  between  good  and  evil,  in  the  single  life 
with  which  he  is  for  the  moment  concerned,  en- 
ables the  continuous  Ego  also  to  make  its  final 
selection.  That  period  —  that  enormous  period, 
for  Nature  is  in  no  hurry  to  catch  its  creatures 
in  a  trap  in  such  a  matter  as  this  —  is  barely 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  HUMANITY.  191 

yet  beginning,  and  a  complete  round  period 
around  tlie  seven  worlds  will  have  to  be  gone 
tbroufrli  before  it  is  over.  Until  the  middle  of 
the  fifth  period  is  passed  on  this  earth,  the  great 
question  —  to  be  or  not  to  be  for  the  future  — 
is  not  irrevocably  settled.  We  are  coming 
now  into  the  possession  of  the  faculties  which 
render  man  a  fully  responsible  being,  but  we 
have  yet  to  employ  those  faculties  during  the 
maturity  of  our  Ego-hood  in  the  manner  which 
shall  determine  the  vast  consequences  hereafter. 
It  is  during  the  first  half  of  the  fifth  round 
that  the  struggle  principally  takes  place.  Till 
then,  the  ordinary  course  of  life  may  be  a  good 
or  a  bad  preparation  for  the  struggle,  but  can- 
not fairly  be  described  as  the  struggle  itself. 
And  now  we  have  to  examine  the  nature  of  the 
struggle,  so  far  merely  spoken  of  as  the  selec- 
tion between  good  and  evil.  That  is  in  no 
way  an  inaccurate,  but  it  is  an  incomplete,  defi- 
nition. 

The  ever-recurring  and  ever-threatened  con- 
flict between  intellect  and  spirituality  is  the 
phenomenon  to  be  now  examined.  The  com- 
monplace conceptions  which  these  two  words 
denote  must  of  course  be  expanded  to  some 
extent  before  the  occult  conception  is  realized ; 
for  European  habits  of  thinking  are  rather  apt 
to  set  up  in  the  mind  an  ignoble  image  of  spir- 


192  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

ituality,  as  an  attribute  rather  of  the  character 
than  the  mind  itself,  —  a  pale  p:oody-goodiness, 
born  of  an  attachment  to  religious  ceremonial 
and  of  devout  aspirations,  no  matter  to  what 
whimsical  notions  of  Heaven  and  Divinity  in 
which  the  "  spiritually-minded "  person  may 
have  been  brought  up.  Spirituality,  in  the 
occult  sense,  has  little  or  nothing  to  do  with 
feeling  devout ;  it  has  to  do  with  the  capacity 
of  the  mind  for  assimilating  knowledge  at  the 
fountain-head  of  knowledge  itself  —  of  absolute 
knowledge  —  instead  of  by  the  circuitous  and 
laborious  process  of  ratiocination. 

The  development  of  pure  intellect,  the  rati- 
ocinative  faculty,  has  been  the  business  of  Eu- 
ropean nations  for  so  long,  and  in  this  depart- 
ment of  human  progress  they  have  achieved 
such  magnificent  triumphs,  that  nothing  in  oc- 
cult philosophy  will  be  less  acceptable  to  Euro- 
peans themselves  at  first,  and  while  the  ideas  at 
stake  are  imperfectly  grasped,  than  the  first 
aspect  of  the  occult  theory  concerning  intellect 
and  spirituality ;  but  this  does  not  arise  so 
much  from  the  undue  tendency  of  occult  science 
to  depreciate  intellect  as  from  the  undue  ten- 
dency of  modern  Western  speculation  to  depre- 
ciate spirituality.  Broadly  speaking,  so  far 
Western  philosophy  has  had  no  opportunity  of 
appreciating  spirituality  ;  it  has  not  been  made 


THE  PROGRESS   OF  HUMANITY.  193 

acquainted  with  the  range  of  the  inner  faculties 
of  man ;  it  has  merely  groped  blindly  in  the 
direction  of  a  belief  that  such  inner  faculties 
existed  ;  and  Kant  himself,  the  greatest  modern 
exponent  of  that  idea,  does  little  more  than 
contend  that  there  is  such  a  faculty  as  intuition, 
—  if  we  only  knew  how  to  work  with  it. 

The  process  of  working  with  it  is  occult  sci- 
ence in  its  highest  aspect,  the  cultivation  of 
spirituality.  The  cultivation  of  mere  power 
over  the  forces  of  Nature,  the  investigation  of 
some  of  her  subtler  secrets  as  regards  the  inner 
principles  controlling  physical  results,  is  occult 
science  in  its  lowest  aspect,  and  into  that  lower 
region  of  its  activity  mere  physical  science  may, 
or  even  must,  gradually  run  up.  But  the  ac- 
quisition by  mere  intellect  —  physical  science 
in  excelsis  —  of  privileges  which  are  the  proper 
appanage  of  spirituality  is  one  of  the  dangers 
of  that  struggle  which  decides  the  ultimate 
destiny  of  the  human  Ego.  For  there  is  one 
thing  which  intellectual  processes  do  not  help 
mankind  to  realize,  and  that  is  the  nature  and 
supreme  excellence  of  spiritual  existence.  On 
the  contrary,  intellect  arises  out  of  physical 
causes,  the  perfection  of  the  physical  brain, 
and  tends  only  to  physical  results,  the  perfec- 
tion of  material  welfare.  Although,  as  a  con- 
cession  to  "  weak  brethren  '    and  ''  religion," 

13 


194  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

on  whicli  it  looks  with  good-humored  contempt, 
modern  intellect  does  not  condemn  spirituality, 
it  certainly  treats  the  physical  human  life  as  the 
only  serious  business  with  which  grave  men,  or 
even  earnest  philanthropists,  can  concern  them- 
selves. But  obviously,  if  spiritual  existence, 
vivid  subjective  consciousness,  really  does  go  on 
for  periods  greater  than  the  periods  of  intellec- 
tual physical  existence  in  the  ratio,  as  we  have 
seen  in  discussing  the  Devachanic  condition,  of 
80  to  1  at  least,  then  surely  man's  subjective 
existence  is  more  important  than  his  physical 
existence,  and  intellect  in  error,  when  all  its 
efforts  are  bent  on  the  amelioration  of  the  phys- 
ical existence. 

These  considerations  show  how  the  choice  be- 
tween good  and  evil  —  which  has  been  made 
by  the  human  Ego  in  the  course  of  the  great 
struggle  between  intellect  and  spirituality  —  is 
not  a  mere  choice  between  ideas  so  plainly  con- 
trasted as  wickedness  and  virtue.  It  is  not  so 
rough  a  question  as  that,  —  whether  man  be 
wicked  or  virtuous,  —  which  must  really  at  the 
final  critical  turning-point  decide  whether  he 
shall  continue  to  live  and  develop  into  higher 
phases  of  existence,  or  cease  to  live  altogether. 
The  truth  of  the  matter  is  (if  it  is  not  impru- 
dent at  this  stage  of  our  progress  to  brush  the 
surface  of  a  new  mystery)  that  the  question,  to 


THE  PROGRESS   OF  HUMANITY.  195 

be  or  not  to  be,  is  not  settled  by  reference  to 
the  question  whether  a  man  be  wicked  or  vir- 
tuous at  all.  It  will  plainly  be  seen  eventually 
that  there  must  be  evil  spirituality  as  well  as 
good  spirituality.  So  that  the  great  question 
of  continued  existence  turns  altogether  and  of 
necessity  on  the  question  of  spirituality,  as  com- 
pared with  physicality.  The  point  is  not  so 
much  "  shall  a  man  live  ;  is  he  good  enough  to  be 
permitted  to  live  any  longer?  "  as  "  ca7i  the  man 
live  any  longer  in  the  higher  levels  of  existence 
into  which  humanity  must  at  last  evolve?' 
Has  he  qualified  himself  to  live  by  the  cultiva- 
tion of  the  durable  portion  of  his  nature  ?  If 
not,  he  has  got  to  the  end  of  his  tether.  The 
destiny  which  must  befall  him  is  annihilation,  — 
not  necessarily  suffering  in  a  conscious  exist- 
ence, but  that  dissolution  that  must  befall  the 
soul  which  has  wholly  assimilated  itself  to 
matter.  Into  the  eighth  sphere  of  pure  matter 
that  Ego  must  descend  which  is  finally  con- 
victed of  unfitness  to  go  any  further  in  the  up- 
ward spiral  path  around  the  planetary  chain. 

It  need  not  be  hurriedly  supposed  that  occult 
philosophy  considers  vice  and  virtue  of  no  con- 
sequence to  human  spiritual  destinies,  because 
it  does  not  discover  in  Nature  that  these  char- 
acteristics determine  ultimate  progress  in  evo- 
lution.    No  system  is  so  pitilessly  inflexible  ia 


196  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

its  morality  as  the  system  which  occult  philos- 
ophy explores  and  expounds.  But  that  which 
vice  and  virtue  of  themselves  determine  is 
happiness  and  miser}^  not  the  final  problem  of 
continued  existence,  beyond  that  immeasurably 
distant  period,  when  in  the  progress  of  evolu- 
tion man  has  got  to  begin  being  something  more 
than  man,  and  cannot  go  on  along  the  path  of 
progress  with  the  help  only  of  the  relatively 
lower  human  attributes.  It  is  true  again  that 
one  can  hardly  imagine  virtue  in  au}^  decided 
degree  to  fail  in  engendering,  in  due  time,  the 
required  higher  attributes  ;  but  we  should  not 
be  scientifically  accurate  in  speaking  of  it  as  the 
cause  of  progress,  in  ultimate  stages  of  eleva- 
tion, though  it  may  provoke  the  development 
of  that  which  is  the  cause  of  progress. 

This  consideration  —  that  ultimate  progress 
is  determined  by  spirituality  irrespective  of  its 
moral  coloring  —  is  the  great  meaning  of  the  oc- 
cult doctrine  that  "to  be  immortal  in  good  one 
must  identify  one's  self  with  God  ;  to  be  immor- 
tal in  evil,  with  Satan.  These  are  the  two  poles 
of  the  world  of  souls  ;  between  these  two  poles 
veiretate  and  die  without  remembrance  the  use- 
less  portion  of  mankind."  ^  The  enigma,  like  all 
occult  formulas,  has  a  lesser  application  (fitting 
the  microcosm  as  well  as  the  macrocosm),  and 
1  Eliphas  Levi. 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  HUMANITY.  197 

m  its  lesser  significance  refers  to  Devachan 
or  Avitchi,  and  the  blank  destiny  of  colorless 
personalities  ;  but  in  its  more  important  bear- 
ing it  relates  to  the  final  sorting  out  of  human- 
ity at  the  middle  of  the  great  fifth  round,  the 
annihilation  of  the  utterly  unspiritual  Egos  and 
the  passage  onward  of  the  others  to  be  immor- 
tal in  good  or  immortal  in  evil.  Precisely  the 
same  meaning  attaches  to  the  passage  in  Reve- 
lation (iii.  15,  16)  :  "  I  would  thou  wert  cold 
or  hot.  So  then  because  thou  art  lukewarm, 
and  neither  cold  nor  hot,  I  will  spue  thee  out 
of  my  mouth." 

Spirituality,  then,  is  not  devout  aspiration; 
it  is  the  highest  kind  of  intellection,  that  which 
takes  cognizance  of  the  workings  of  Nature  by 
direct  assimilation  of  the  mind  with  her  higher 
principles.  The  objection  which  physical  intel- 
ligence will  bring  against  this  view  is  that  the 
mind  can  cognize  nothing  except  by  observation 
of  phenomena  and  reasoning  thereon.  That  is 
the  mistake,  —  it  can ;  and  the  existence  of  oc- 
cult science  is  the  highest  proof  thereof.  But 
there  are  hints  pointing  in  the  direction  of  such 
proof  all  around  us  if  we  have  but  the  patience 
to  examine  their  true  bearings.  It  is  idle  to 
say,  in  face,  merely  for  one  thing,  of  the  phe- 
nomena of  clairvoj^ance  —  crude  and  imperfect 
as  those  have   been  which  have  pushed  them* 


198  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

selves  on  the  attention  of  tlie  world — that 
there  are  no  other  avenues  to  consciousness  but 
those  of  the  five  senses.  Certainly  in  the  ordi- 
nary world  the  clairvoyant  faculty  is  an  exceed- 
ingly rare  one,  but  it  indicates  the  existence  in 
man  of  a  potential  faculty,  the  nature  of  which, 
as  inferred  from  its  slightest  manifestations, 
must  obviously  be  capable  in  its  highest  devel- 
opment of  leading  to  a  direct  assimilation  of 
knowledge  independently  of  observation. 

One  of  the  most  embarrassing  difficulties  that 
beset  the  present  attempt  to  translate  the  es- 
oteric doctrine  into  plain  language  is  due  really 
to  the  fact  that  spiritual  perceptiveness,  apart 
from  all  ordinary  processes  by  which  knowledge 
is  acquired,  is  a  great  and  grand  possibility  of 
human  nature.  ,It  is  by  that  method  in  the 
regular  course  of  occult  training  that  adepts  im- 
part instruction  to  their  pupils.  They  awaken 
the  dormant  sense  in  the  pupil,  and  through 
this  they  imbue  his  mind  with  a  knowledge 
that  such  and  such  a  doctrine  is  the  real  truth. 
The  whole  scheme  of  evolution,  which  the  fore- 
going chapters  have  portrayed,  infiltrates  into 
the  regular  chela's  mind  by  reason  of  the  fact 
that  he  is  made  to  see  the  process  taking  place 
by  clairvoyant  vision.  There  are  no  words 
used  in  his  instruction  at  all.  And  adepts 
themselves,  to  whom  the  facts  and  processes  of 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  HUMANITY.  199 

Nature  are  familiar  as  our  five  fingers  to  us, 
find  it  difficult  to  explain  in  a  treatise  which 
they  cannot  illustrate  for  us,  by  producing  men- 
tal pictures  in  our  dormant  sixth  sense,  the  com- 
plex anatomy  of  the  planetary  system. 

Certainly  it  is  not  to  be  expected  that  man- 
kind as  yet  should  be  generally  conscious  of 
possessing  the  sixth  sense,  for  the  day  of  its  ac- 
tivity has  not  yet  come.  It  has  been  already 
stated  that  each  round  in  turn  is  devoted  to  the 
perfection  in  man  of  the  corresponding  princi- 
ple in  its  numerical  order,  and  to  its  prepara- 
tion for  assimilation  with  the  next.  The  earlier 
rounds  have  been  described  as  concerned  with 
man  in  a  shadowy,  loosely  organized,  unintelli- 
gent form.  The  first  principle  of  all,  the  bod}^ 
was  developed,  but  it  was  merely  growing  used 
to  vitality,  and  was  unlike  anything  we  can 
now  picture  to  ourselves.  The  fourth  round, 
in  which  we  are  now  engaged,  is  the  round  in 
which  the  fourth  principle,  will,  desire,  is  fully 
developed,  and  in  which  it  is  engaged  in  assim- 
ilating itself  with  the  fifth  principle,  reason,  in- 
telligence. In  the  fifth  round,  the  completely 
developed  reason,  intellect,  or  soul,  in  which 
the  Ego  then  resides,  must  assimilate  itself  to 
the  sixth  principle,  spirituality,  or  give  up  the 
business  of  existence  altogether. 

All  readers  of  Buddhist  literature  are  famil- 


200  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

iar  with  the  constant  references  made  there  to 
the  Arhat's  union  of  his  soul  with  God.  This, 
in  other  words,  is  the  premature  development 
of  his  sixth  principle.  He  forces  himself  right 
up  through  all  the  obstacles  which  impede  such 
an  operation  in  the  case  of  a  fourth-round  man, 
into  that  stage  of  evolution  which  awaits  the 
rest  of  humanity  —  or  rather  so  much  of  hu- 
manity as  may  reach  it  in  the  ordinary  course 
of  Nature  —  in  the  latter  part  of  the  fifth  round. 
And  in  doing  this,  it  will  be  observed,  he  tides 
himself  right  over  the  great  period  of  danger,  — 
the  middle  of  the  fifth  round.  That  is  the  stu- 
pendous achievement  of  the  adept  as  regards 
his  own  personal  interests.  He  has  reached  the 
further  shore  of  the  sea  in  which  so  many  of 
mankind  will  perish.  He  waits  there  in  a  con- 
tentment which  people  cannot  even  realize 
without  some  glimmerings  of  spirituality  —  of 
the  sixth  sense  —  themselves  for  the  arrival 
there  of  his  future  companions.  He  does  not 
wait  in  his  physical  body,  let  me  hasten  to  add, 
to  avoid  misconstruction,  but  when  at  last  jt?nV 
ileged  to  resign  tJiis,  in  a  spiritual  condition, 
which  it  would  be  foolish  to  attempt  to  describe, 
while  even  the  Devachanic  states  of  ordinary 
humanity  are  themselves  almost  beyond  the 
reach  of  imaginations  untrained  in  spiritual 
science. 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  HUMANITY.  201 

But,  returning  to  the  ordinary  course  of  hu- 
manity and  the  growth  into  sixth-round  people 
of  men  and  women,  who  do  not  become  adepts 
at  any  premature  stage  of  their  career,  it  will 
be  observed  that  this  is  the  ordinary  course  of 
Nature  in  one  sense  of  the  expression  ;  but  so 
also  is  it  the  ordinary  course  of  Nature  for 
every  grain  of  corn  that  is  developed  to  fall 
into  appropriate  soil,  and  grow  up  into  an  ear 
of  corn  itself.  All  the  same  a  great  many 
grains  do  nothing  of  the  sort,  and  a  great  many 
human  Egos  will  never  pass  through  the  trials 
of  the  fifth  round.  The  final  effort  of  Nature 
in  evolving  man  is  to  evolve  from  him  a  being 
unmeasurably  higher  to  be  a  conscious  agent, 
and  what  is  ordinarily  meant  by  a  creative 
principle  in  Nature  herself  ultimately.  The 
first  acliievement  is  to  evolve  free-will,  and  the 
next  to  perpetuate  that  free-will  by  inducing 
it  to  unite  itself  with  the  final  purpose  of  Na- 
ture, which  is  good.  In  the  course  of  such 
an  operation  it  is  inevitable  that  a  great  deal 
of  the  free-will  evolved  should  turn  to  evil, 
and  after  producing  temporary  suffering  be  dis- 
persed and  annihilated.  More  than  this,  the 
final  purpose  can  only  be  achieved  by  a  profuse 
expenditure  of  material ;  and  just  as  this  goes 
on  in  the  lower  stages  of  evolution,  where  a 
thousand  seeds  are  thrown  off  by  a  vegetable 


202  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

for  every  one  that  ultimately  fructifies  into  a 
new  plant,  so  are  the  god-like  germs  of  Will, 
sown  one  in  each  man's  breast,  in  abundance 
like  the  seeds  blown  about  in  the  wind.  Is  the 
justice  of  Nature  to  be  impugned  by  reason  of 
the  fact  that  many  of  these  germs  will  perish  ? 
Such  an  idea  could  only  rise  in  a  mind  that 
will  not  realize  the  room  there  is  in  Nature  for 
the  growth  of  every  germ  which  chooses  to 
grow,  and  to  the  extent  it  chooses  to  grow,  be 
that  extent  great  or  small.  If  it  seems  to  any 
one  horrible  that  an  "  immortal  soul  "  should 
perish,  under  any  circumstances,  that  impres- 
sion can  only  be  due  to  the  pernicious  habit  of 
regarding  everything  as  eternity,  which  is  not 
this  microscopic  life.  There  is  room  in  the 
subjective  spheres  and  time  in  the  catenary 
manvantara,  before  we  even  approach  the 
Dhyan  Chohan,  or  god-like  period,  for  more 
than  the  ordinary  brain  has  ever  yet  conceived 
of  immortality.  Every  good  deed  and  elevated 
impulse  that  every  man  or  woman  ever  did  or 
felt  must  reverberate  through  aeons  of  spirit- 
ual existence,  whether  the  human  entity  con- 
cerned proves  able  or  not  to  expand  into  the 
sublime  and  stupendous  development  of  the 
seventh  round.  And  it  is  out  of  the  causes 
generated  in  one  of  our  brief  lives  on  earth 
that  exoteric  speculation  conceives  itself  capa* 


THE  PROGRESS   OF  HUMANITY.  203 

ble  of  constructing  eternal  results  !  Out  of 
such  a  seven  or  eight  hundredth  part  of  our 
objective  life  on  earth  during  the  present  stay- 
here  of  the  evolutionary  life-wave,  we  are  to 
expect  Nature  to  discern  sufl&cient  reason  for 
deciding  upon  our  whole  subsequent  career.  In 
truth,  Nature  will  make  such  a  large  return  for 
a  comparatively  small  expenditure  of  human 
will-power  in  the  right  direction  that,  extrav- 
agant as  the  expectation  just  stated  may  ap- 
pear, and  extravagant  as  it  is  applied  to  or- 
dinary lives,  one  brief  existence  may  sometimes 
suffice  to  anticipate  the  growth  of  milliards  of 
years.  The  adept  may,  in  the  one  earth-life,^ 
achieve  so  much,  advancement  that  his  sub- 
sequent growth  is  certain,  and  merely  a  matter 
of  time  ;  but  then  the  seed  germ  which  pro- 
duces an  adept  in  our  life,  must  be  very  per- 
fect to  begin  with,  and  the  early  conditions  of 
its  growth  favorable,  and  withal  the  effort  on 
the  part  of  the  man  himself,  life-long  and  far 
more  concentrated,  more  intense,  more  arduous, 
than  it  is  possible  for  the  uninitiated  outsider 
to  realize.  In  ordinary  cases,  the  life  which  is 
divided  between  material  enjoyment  and  spir- 
itual aspiration  —  however  sincere  and  beau- 
tiful   the    latter  —  can    only  be  productive   of 

1  In  practice,  my  impression  is  that  this  is  rarely  achieved  in 
one  earth-life  ;  approached  rather  in  two  or  three  artificial  incarna- 
tions. 


204  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

a  correspondingly  duplex  result,  of  a  spiritual 
reward  in  Devaclian,  of  a  new  birth  on  earth. 
The  manner  in  which  the  adept  gets  above 
the  necessity  of  such  a  new  birth  is  perfectly 
scientific  and  simple,  be  it  observed,  though 
it  sounds  like  a  theological  mystery  when  ex- 
pounded in  exoteric  writings  by  reference  to 
Karma  and  Skandhas,  Trishna,  and  Tanha, 
and  so  forth.  The  next  earth-life  is  as  much 
a  consequence  of  afiinities  engendered  by  the 
fifth  principle,  the  continuous  human  soul,  as 
the  Devachanic  experiences  which  come  first 
are  the  growth  of  the  thoughts  and  aspirations 
of  an  elevated  character,  which  the  person  con- 
cerned has  created  during  life.  That  is  to  say, 
the  affinities  engendered  in  ordinary  cases  are 
partly  material,  partly  spiritual.  Therefore 
they  start  the  soul  on  its  entrance  into  the 
world  of  effects  with  a  double  set  of  attractions 
inhering  in  it ;  one  set  producing  the  subjective 
consequences  of  its  Devachanic  life,  the  other 
set  asserting  themselves  at  the  close  of  that 
Jife,  and  carrying  the  soul  back  again  into  re- 
incarnation. But  if  the  person  during  his  ob- 
jective life  absolutely  develops  no  affinities  for 
material  existence,  starts  his  soul  at  death  wath 
all  its  attractions  tending  one  way  in  the  direc- 
tion of  spirituality,  and  none  at  all  drawing  it 
back  to  objective  life,  it  does  not  come  back; 


THE  PROGRESS  OF  HUMANITY.  205 

it  mounts  into  a  condition  of  spirituality,  cor- 
responding to  the  intensity  of  the  attractions 
or  affinities  in  that  direction,  and  the  other 
thread  of  connection  is  cut  off. 

Now  this  exphmation  does  not  entirely  cover 
the  whole  position,  because  the  adept  himself, 
no  matter  how  high,  does  return  to  incarna- 
tion eventually,  after  the  rest  of  mankind  have 
passed  across  the  great  dividing  period  in  the 
middle  of  the  fifth  round.  Until  the  exaltation 
of  Planetary  Spirithood  is  reached,  the  highest 
human  soul  must  have  a  certain  affinity  for 
earth  still,  though  not  the  earth-life  of  phys- 
ical enjoyments  and  passions  that  we  are  go- 
ing through.  But  the  important  point  to  re- 
alize in  regard  to  the  spiritual  consequences  of 
earthly  life  is  that,  in  so  large  a  majority  of 
cases  that  the  abnormal  few  need  not  be  talked 
about,  the  sense  of  justice  in  regard  to  the 
destiny  of  good  men  is  amply  satisfied  by  the 
course  of  Nature  step  by  step  as  time  advances. 
The  spirit-life  is  ever  at  hand  to  receive,  re- 
fresh, and  restore  tlie  soul  after  the  struggles, 
achievements,  or  sufferings  of  incarnation.  And 
more  than  this,  reserving  the  question  about 
eternity.  Nature,  in  the  intercyclic  periods  at 
the  apex  of  each  round,  provides  for  all  man- 
kind, except  those  unfortunate  failures  who 
have  persistently  adhered  to  the  path  of  evil, 


206  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

great  intervals  of  spiritual  blessedness,  far 
longer  and  more  exalted  in  their  cliaracter 
than  the  Devachanic  periods  of  each  separate 
life.  Nature,  in  fact,  is  inconceivably  liberal 
and  patient  to  each  and  all  her  candidates  for 
the  final  examination  during  their  long  prep- 
aration for  this.  Nor  is  one  failure  to  pass 
even  this  final  examination  absolutel}^  fatal. 
The  failures  may  try  again,  if  they  are  not 
utterly  disgraceful  failures,  but  they  must  wait 
for  the  next  opportunity. 

A  complete  explanation  of  the  circumstances 
under  which  such  waiting  is  accomplished 
would  not  come  into  the  scheme  of  this  trea- 
tise ;  but  it  must  not  be  supposed  that  candi- 
dates for  progress,  self-convicted  of  unfitness  to 
proceed  at  the  critical  period  of  the  fifth  round, 
fall  necessaril}^  into  the  sphere  of  annihilation. 
For  that  attraction  to  assert  itself,  the  Ego  must 
have  developed  a  positive  attraction  for  matter, 
a  positive  repulsion  for  spirituality^  w^iich  is 
overwhelming  in  its  force.  In  the  absence  of 
such  affinities,  and  in  the  absence  also  of  such 
affinities  as  would  suffice  to  tide  the  Ego  over 
the  great  gulf,  the  destiny  which  meets  the 
mere  failures  of  Nature  is,  as  regards  the  pres- 
ent planetary  manwantara,  to  die,  as  Eliphas 
Levi  puts  it,  without  remembrance.  They 
have  lived  their  life,  and   had  their  share  of 


THE  PROGRESS   OF  HUMANITY.  207 

Heaven,  but  they  are  not  capable  of  ascending 
the  tremendous  altitudes  of  spiritual  progress 
then  confronting  them.  But  they  are  qualified 
for  further  incarnation  and  life  on  the  planes  of 
existence  to  which  they  are  accustomed.  They 
will  wait,  therefore,  in  the  negative  spiritual 
state  they  have  attained  till  those  planes  of  ex- 
istence are  again  in  activity  in  the  next  plan- 
etary manwantara.  The  duration  of  such  wait- 
ing is,  of  course,  beyond  the  reach  of  imagina- 
tion altogether,  and  the  precise  nature  of  the 
existence  which  is  now  contemplated  is  no  less 
unrealizable  ;  but  the  broad  pathway  through 
that  strange  region  of  dreamy  semi-animation 
must  be  taken  note  of  in  order  that  the  sym- 
metry and  completeness  of  the  whole  evolution- 
ary scheme  may  be  perceived. 

And  with  this  last  contingency  provided  for, 
the  whole  scheme  does  lie  before  the  reader  in 
its  main  outlines  with  tolerable  completeness. 
We  have  seen  the  one  life,  the  spirit,  animat- 
ing matter  in  it  lowest  forms  first,  and  evoking 
growth  by  slow  degrees  into  higher  forms.  In- 
dividualizing itself  at  last  in  man,  it  works  up 
through  inferior  and  irresponsible  incarnations 
until  it  has  penetrated  the  higher  principles, 
and  evolved  a  true  human  soul,  whicli  is  thence- 
forth the  master  of  its  own  fate,  though  guarded 
in  the  beginning  by  natural   provisions  which 


208  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

debar  it  from  premature  shipwreck,  which  stim- 
ulate and  refresh  it  on  its  course.  But  the  ulti- 
mate destiny  offered  to  that  soul  is  to  develop 
not  only  into  a  being  capable  of  taking  care  of 
itself,  but  into  a  being  capable  of  taking  care 
also  of  others,  of  presiding  over  and  directing, 
within  what  may  be  called  constitutional  limits, 
the  operations  of  Nature  herself.  Clearly  be- 
fore the  soul  can  have  earned  the  right  to  that 
promotion,  it  must  have  been  tried  by  having 
conceded  to  it  full  control  over  its  own  affairs. 
That  full  control  necessarily  conveys  the  power 
to  shipwreck  itself.  The  safeguards  put  round 
the  Ego  in  its  youth  —  its  inability  to  get  into 
higher  or  lower  states  than  those  of  intermun- 
dane  Devachan  and  Avitchi  —  fall  from  it  in 
its  maturity.  It  is  potent,  then,  over  its  own 
destinies,  not  only  in  regard  to  the  developuient 
of  transitory  joy  and  suffering,  but  in  regard  to 
the  stupendous  opportunities  in  both  directions 
which  existence  opens  out  before  it.  It  may 
seize  on  the  higher  opportunities  in  two  ways; 
it  may  throw  up  the  struggle  in  two  ways ;  it 
may  attain  sublime  spirituality  for  good  or  sub- 
lime spirituality  for  evil ;  it  may  ally  itself  to 
physically  for  (not  evil  but  for)  utter  annihila- 
tion ;  or,  on  the  other  hand,  for  (not  good  but 
for)  the  negative  result  of  beginning  the  educa- 
tional  processes  of  incarnation  all  over  again. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

BUDDHA. 

The  historical  Buddha,  as  known  to  the  cus- 
todians of  the  Esoteric  Doctrine,  is  a  personage 
whose  birth  is  not  invested  with  the  quaint 
marvels  popular  story  has  crowded  round  it. 
Nor  was  his  progress  to  adeptship  traced  by  the 
literal  occurrence  of  the  supernatural  struggles 
depicted  in  symbolic  legend.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  incarnation,  which  may  outwardly  be 
described  as  the  birth  of  Buddha,  is  certainly 
not  regarded  by  occult  science  as  an  event  like 
any  other  birth,  nor  the  spiritual  development 
through  which  Buddha  passed  during  his  earth- 
life  a  mere  process  of  intellectual  evolution, 
like  the  mental  history  of  any  other  philoso- 
pher. The  mistake  which  ordinary  European 
writers  make  in  dealing  with  a  problem  of  this 
sort  lies  in  their  inclination  to  treat  exoteric 
legend  either  as  a  record  of  a  miracle  about 
which  no  more  need  be  said,  or  as  pure  myth, 
putting  merely  a  fantastic  decoration  on  a  re- 
markable life.     This,  it  is   assumed,  however 

14 


210  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

remarkable,  must  have  been  lived  according  to 
the  theories  of  Nature  at  present  accepted  by 
the  nineteenth  century.  The  account  which 
has  now  been  given  in  the  foregoing  pages  may 
prepare  the  way  for  a  statement  as  to  what  the 
Esoteric  Doctrine  teaches  concerning  the  real 
Buddha,  who  was  born,  as  modern  investigation 
has  quite  correctly  ascertained,  G43  years  be- 
fore the  Christian  era,  at  Kapila-Vastu  near 
Benares. 

Exoteric  conceptions,  knowing  nothing  of  the 
laws  which  govern  the  operations  of  Nature  in 
her  higher  departments,  can   only  explain  an 
abnormal  dignity  attaching  to  some  particular 
birth  by  supposing  that  tlie  physical  body  of 
the  person  concerned  was  generated  in  a  mirac- 
ulous manner.    Hence  the  popular  notion  about 
Buddha,  that  his  incarnation  in  this  world  was 
due  to  an  immaculate  conception.     Occult  sci- 
ence knows  nothing  of  any  process  for  the  pro- 
duction of  a  physical  human  child  other  than 
that  appointed   by  physical  laws  ;  but  it  does 
know  a  good  deal  concerning  the  limits  within 
which  the  progressive  *' one  life,"  or  "spiritual 
monad,"  or  continuous  thread  of  a  series  of  in- 
carnations, may  select   definite  child-bodies  as 
their  human  tenements.     By  the  operation  of 
Karma,  in  the  case  of  ordinary  mankind,  this 
selection  is  made,  unconsciously  as  far  as  the 


BUDDHA.  211 

antecedent,  spiritual  Ego  emerging  from  De- 
vaclian  is  concerned.  But  in  those  abnormal 
cases  where  the  one  life  has  already  forced  it- 
self into  the  sixth  principle  —  that  is  to  say, 
where  a  man  has  become  an  adept,  and  has  the 
power  of  guiding  his  own  spiritual  Ego,  in  full 
consciousness  as  to  what  he  is  about,  after  he 
has  quitted  the  body  in  which  he  won  adept- 
ship,  either  temporarily  or  permanently  —  it  is 
quite  within  his  power  to  select  his  own  next 
incarnation.  During  life,  even,  he  gets  above 
the  Devachanic  attraction.  He  becomes  one  of 
the  conscious  directing  powers  of  the  planetary 
system  to  which  he  belongs ;  and  great  as  this 
mystery  of  selected  re-incarnation  may  be,  it  is 
not  by  any  means  restricted  in  its  application 
to  such  extraordinary  events  as  the  birth  of  a 
Buddha.  It  is  a  phenomenon  frequently  repro- 
duced by  the  higher  adepts  to  this  day,  and 
while  a  great  deal  recounted  in  popular  Ori- 
ental mythology  is  either  purely  fictitious  or 
entirely  symbolical,  the  re-incarnation  of  the 
Dalai  and  Teshu  Lamas  in  Tibet,  at  which 
travelers  only  laugh  for  want  of  the  knowledge 
that  might  enable  them  to  sift  fact  from  fancy, 
is  a  sober  scientific  achievement.  In  such  cases 
the  adept  states  beforehand  in  what  child,  when 
and  where  to  be  born,  he  is  going  to  re-incar- 
nate, and  he  very  rarely  fails.     We  say  very 


212  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

rarely,  because  there  are  some  accidents  of  pliys- 
ical  nature  which  cannot  be  entirely  guarded 
against ;  and  it  is  not  absolutely  certain  that, 
with  all  the  foresight  even  an  adept  may  bring 
to  bear  upon  the  matter,  the  child  he  may  choose 
to  become,  in  his  re-incarnated  state,  may  attain 
physical  maturity  successfully.  And,  mean- 
while, in  the  body^  the  adept  is  relatively  help- 
less. Out  of  the  body  he  is  just  what  he  has 
been  ever  since  he  became  an  adept ;  but  as 
regards  the  new  body  he  has  chosen  to  inhabit, 
he  must  let  it  grow  up  in  the  ordinary  course  of 
Nature,  and  educate  it  by  ordinary  processes, 
and  initiate  it  by  the  regular  occult  method 
into  adeptship,  before  he  has  got  a  body  fully 
ready  again  for  occult  work  on  the  physical 
plane.  All  these  processes  are  immensely  sim- 
plified, it  is  true,  by  the  peculiar  spiritual  force 
working  within  ;  but  at  first,  in  the  child's  body, 
the  adept  soul  is  certainly  cramped  and  embar- 
rassed, and,  as  ordinary  imagination  might  sug- 
gest, very  uncomfortable  and  ill  at  ease.  The 
situation  would  be  very  much  misunderstood  if 
the  reader  were  to  imagine  that  re-incarnation 
of  the  kind  described  is  a  privilege  which  adepts 
avail  themselves  of  with  pleasure. 

Buddha's  birth  was  a  mystery  of  the  kind 
described,  and  by  the  light  of  what  has  been 
said  it  will  be  easy  to  go  over  the  popular  story 


BUDDHA,  213 

of  his  miraculous  origin,  and  trace  the  symbolic 
references  to  the  facts  of  the  situation  in  some 
even  of  the  most  grotesque  fables.  None,  for 
example,  can  look  less  promising  as  an  allu- 
sion to  anything  like  a  scientific  fact  than  the 
statement  that  Buddha  entered  the  side  of  his 
mother  as  a  young  white  elephant.  But  the 
white  elephant  is  simply  the  symbol  of  adept- 
ship, —  something  considered  to  be  a  rare  and 
beautiful  specimen  of  its  kind.  So  with  other 
ante-natal  legends  pointing  to  the  fact  that  the 
future  child's  body  had  been  chosen  as  the  hab- 
itation of  a  great  spirit  already  endowed  with 
superlative  wisdom  and  goodness.  Indra  and 
Brahma  came  to  do  homage  to  the  child  at  his 
birth;  that  is  to  say,  the  powers  of  Nature 
were  already  in  submission  to  the  Spirit  within 
him.  The  thirty-two  signs  of  a  Buddha,  which 
legends  describe  by  means  of  a  ludicrous  phys- 
ical symbolism,  are  merely  the  various  powers 
of  adeptship. 

The  selection  of  the  body  known  as  Siddhar- 
tha,  and  afterwards  as  Gautama,  son  of  Sud- 
dhodana,  of  Kapila-Vastu,  as  the  human  tene- 
ment of  the  enlightened  human  spirit,  who  had 
submitted  to  incarnation  for  the  sake  of  teach- 
ing mankind,  was  not  one  of  those  rare  failures 
spoken  of  above ;  on  the  contrary,  it  was  a 
signally  successful  choice  in  all  respects,  and 


214  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

nothing  interfered  with  the  accomplishment 
of  adeptship  by  the  Buddha  in  his  new  body. 
The  popidar  narrative  of  his  ascetic  struggles 
and  temptations,  and  of  his  final  attainment 
of  Buddhahood  under  the  Bo-tree,  is  nothing 
more,  of  course,  than  the  exoteric  version  of  his 
initiation. 

From  that  period  onward,  his  work  was  of  a 
dual  nature ;  he  had  to  reform  and  revive  the 
morals  of  the  populace  and  the  science  of  the 
adepts,  —  for  adeptship  itself  is  subject  to  cyclic 
changes,  and  in  need  of  periodical  impulses. 
The  explanation  of  this  branch  of  the  subject, 
in  plain  terms,  will  not  alone  be  important  for 
its  own  sake,  but  will  be  interesting  to  all  stu- 
dents of  exoteric  Buddhism,  as  elucidating  some 
of  the  puzzling  complications  of  the  more  ab- 
struse "  Northern  doctrine." 

A  Buddha  visits  the  earth  for  each  of  the 
seven  races  of  the  great  planetary  period.  The 
Buddha  with  whom  we  are  occupied  was  the 
fourth  of  the  series,  and  that  is  why  he  stands 
fourth  in  the  list  quoted  by  Mr.  Rhys  Davids, 
from  Burnouf,  —  quoted  as  an  illustration  of 
the  way  the  Northern  doctrine  has  been,  as  Mr. 
Davids  supposes,  inflated  b}^  metaphysical  sub- 
tleties and  absurdities  crowded  round  the  sim- 
ple morality  which  sums  up  Buddhism  as  pre- 
sented to  the  populace.     The  fifth,  or  Maitreya 


BUDDHA.  215 

Buddha,  will  come  after  the  final  disappear- 
ance of  the  fifth  race,  and  when  the  sixth  race 
will  already  have  been  established  on  earth 
for  some  hundreds  of  thousands  of  years.  The 
sixth  will  come  at  the  beginning  of  the  seventh 
race,  and  the  seventh  towards  the  close  of  that 
race. 

This  arrangement  will  seem,  at  the  first 
glance,  out  of  harmony  with  the  general  design 
of  human  evolution.  Here  we  are  in  the  mid- 
dle of  the  fifth  race,  and  yet  it  is  the  fourth 
Buddha  who  has  been  identified  with  this  race, 
and  the  fifth  will  not  come  till  the  fifth  race  is 
practically  extinct.  The  explanation  is  to  be 
found,  however,  in  the  great  outlines  of  the 
esoteric  cosmogony.  At  the  beginning  of  each 
great  planetary  period,  when  obscuration  comes 
to  an  end,  and  the  human  tide-wave  in  its  prog- 
ress round  the  chain  of  worlds  arrives  at  the 
shore  of  a  globe  where  no  humanity  has  existed 
for  milliards  of  years,  a  teacher  is  required  from 
the  first  for  the  new  crop  of  mankind  about  to 
spring  up.  Remember  that  the  preliminary 
evolution  of  the  mineral,  vegetable,  and  animal 
kingdoms  has  been  accomplished  in  preparation 
for  the  new  round  period.  With  the  first  infu- 
sion of  the  life-current  into  the  "  missing  link  " 
species  the  first  race  of  the  new  series  will  begin 
to  evolve.     It  is  then  that  the  Being,  who  may 


216  ESOTERfC  BUDDHISM. 

be  considered  the  Buddha  of  the  first  race,  ap- 
pears. The  planetary  spirit,  or  Dhyan  Cho- 
han,  who  is  —  or,  to  avoid  the  suggestion  of  an 
erroneous  idea  by  the  use  of  a  singular  verb, 
let  us  defy,  grammar  and  say,  who  are  —  Bud- 
dha in  all  his  or  their  developments,  incarnates 
among  the  young,  innocent,  teachable  forerun- 
ners of  the  new  humanity,  and  impresses  the 
first  broad  principles  of  right  and  wrong  and 
the  first  truths  of  the  esoteric  doctrine  on  a  suf- 
ficient number  of  receptive  minds  to  insure  the 
continued  reverberation  of  the  ideas  so  im- 
planted through  successive  generations  of  men 
in  the  millions  of  years  to  come,  before  the  first 
race  shall  have  completed  its  course.  It  is  this 
advent  in  the  beginning  of  the  round  period  of 
a  Divine  Being  in  human  form  that  starts  the 
ineradicable  conception  of  the  anthropomorphic 
God  in  all  exoteric  religions. 

The  first  Buddha  of  the  series  in  which  Gau- 
tama Buddha  stands  fourth  is  thus  the  second 
incarnation  of  Avaloketiswara,  —  the  mystic 
name  of  the  hosts  of  the  Dhyan  Chohans,  or 
planetary  spirits,  belonging  to  our  planetary 
chain ;  and  though  Gautama  is  thus  the  fourth 
incarnation  of  enlightenment  by  exoteric  reck- 
oning, he  is  really  the  fifth  of  the  true  series, 
and  thus  properly  belonging  to  our  fifth  race. 

Avaloketiswara,  as  just  stated,  is  the  mystic 


BUDDHA,  217 

name  of  the  hosts  of  the  Dhyan  Chohans  ;  the 
proper  meaning  of  the  word  is  manifested  wis- 
dom, just  as  Addi-Buddha  and  Amitabha  both 
mean  abstract  wisdom. 

The  doctrine,  as  quoted  by  Mr.  Davids,  that 
*'  every  earthly  mortal  Buddha  has  his  pure  and 
glorious  counterpart  in  the  mystic  world,  free 
from  the  debasing  conditions  of  this  material 
life,  or  rather  that  the  Buddha  under  material 
conditions  is  only  an  appearance,  the  reflection, 
or  emanation,  or  type  of  a  Dhyani  Buddha,"  is 
perfectly  correct.  The  number  of  Dhyani  Bud- 
dhas,  or  Dhyan  Chohans,  or  planetary  spirits, 
perfected  human  spirits  of  former  world  periods, 
is  infinite,  but  only  five  are  practically  identified 
in  exoteric  and  seven  in  esoteric  teaching ;  and 
this  identification,  be  it  remembered,  is  a  man- 
ner of  speaking  which  must  not  be  interpreted 
too  literally,  for  there  is  a  unity  in  the  sublime 
spirit-life  in  question  that  leaves  no  room  for 
the  isolation  of  individuality.  All  this  will  be 
seen  to  harmonize  perfectly  with  the  revelations 
concerning  Nature  embodied  in  previous  chap- 
ters, and  need  not  in  any  way  be  attributed  to 
mystic  imaginings.  The  Dhyani  Buddhas,  or 
Dhyan  Chohans,  are  the  perfected  humanity  of 
previous  Manwantaric  epochs,  and  their  collec- 
tive intelligence  is  described  by  the  name  "  Addi- 
Buddha,"  which  Mr.  Rhys  Davids  is  mistaken 


218  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

in  treating  as  a  comparatively  recent  invention 
of  the  Northern  Buddhish.  Addi-Buddha  means 
primordial  wisdom,  and  is  mentioned  in  the 
oldest  Sanskrit  books.  For  example,  in  the  phil- 
osophical dissertation  on  the  "  Mandukya  Upan- 
ishad,"  by  Gowdapatha,  a  Sanskrit  author  con- 
temporary with  Buddha  himself,  the  expression 
is  freely  used  and  expounded  in  exact  accord- 
ance with  the  present  statement.  A  friend  of 
mine  in  India,  a  Brahmin  pundit  of  first-rate 
attainments  as  a  Sanskrit  scholar,  has  shown 
me  a  copy  of  this  book,  which  has  never  yet, 
that  he  knows  of,  been  translated  into  English, 
and  has  pointed  out  a  sentence  bearing  on  the 
present  question,  giving  me  the  following  trans- 
lation :  "  Prakriti  itself,  in  fact,  is  Addi-Buddha, 
and  all  the  Dharmas  have  been  existing  from 
eternity."  Gowdapatha  is  a  philosophical  wri- 
ter respected  by  all  Hindu  and  Buddhist  sects 
alike,  and  widely  known.  He  was  the  guru,  or 
spiritual  teacher  of  the  first  Sankaracharya,  of 
whom  T  shall  have  to  speak  more  at  length 
very  shortly. 

Adeptsliip,  when  Buddha  incarnated,  was  not 
the  condensed,  compact  hierarchy  that  it  has 
since  become  under  his  influence.  There  has 
never  been  an  age  of  the  world  without  its 
adepts ;  but  they  have  sometimes  been  scat- 
tered throughout  the  world ;  they  have  some< 


BUDDHA.  219 

times  been  isolated  in  separate  seclusions  ;  they 
have  gravitated  now  to  this   country,  now  to 
that;    and    finally,    be    it    remembered,    their 
knowledge   and   power   has   not    always   been 
inspired  with  the  elevated  and  severe  morality 
which  Buddha  infused  into  its  latest  and  high- 
est  organization.     The   reform   of    the    occult 
world  by  his  instrumentality  was,  in  fact,  the 
result  of  his  great  sacrifice;  of  the  self-denial 
which  induced  him  to  reject  the  blessed  condi- 
tion of  Nirvana  to  which,  after  his  earth-life  as 
Buddha,  he  was  fully  entitled,  and   undertake 
the  burden  of  renewed  incarnations  in  order  to 
carry  out   more    thoroughly   the   task   he    had 
taken   in  hand,  and   confer  a  correspondingly 
increased  benefit  on  mankind.     Buddha  re-in- 
carnated himself,    next   after  his   existence  as 
Gautama  Buddha,  in  the  person  of  the  great 
teacher  of  whom  but  little  is  said  in  exoteric 
works  on  Buddhism,  but  without  a  considera- 
tion  of  whose  life   it   would  be  impossible  to 
get  a  correct  conception  of  the  position  in  the 
Eastern  world   of   esoteric  science, — namely, 
Sankaracharya.     The  latter  part  of  this  name, 
it  may  be  explained—  acharya  —  merely  means 
teacher.     The  whole  name  as  a  title  is  perpet- 
uated to  this  day  under  curious  circumstances, 
but  the  modern   bearers  of  it   are  not  in  the 
direct  line  of  Buddhist  spiritual  incarnations. 


220  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

Sankaracharya  appeared  in  India  —  no  atten- 
tion being  paid  to  bis  birtb,  wbich  appears  to 
have  taken  place  on  tbe  Malabar  coast  —  about 
sixty  years  after  Gautama  Buddha's  death. 
Esoteric  teaching  is  to  the  effect  that  Sankara- 
charya  simply  was  Buddha  in  all  respects,  in  a 
new  body.  This  view  will  not  be  acceptable  to 
uninitiated  Hindu  authorities,  who  attribute  a 
later  date  to  Sankaracharya's  appearance,  and 
regard  him  as  a  wholly  independent  teacher, 
even  inimical  to  Buddhism,  but  none  the  less 
is  the  statement  just  made  the  real  opinion  of 
initiates  in  esoteric  science,  whether  these  call 
themselves  Buddhists  or  Hindus.  I  have  re- 
ceived the  information  I  am  now  giving  from  a 
Brahmin  Adwaiti,  of  Southern  India,  —  not 
directly  from  my  Tibetan  instructor,  —  and  all 
initiated  Brahmins,  he  assures  me,  would  say 
the  same.  Some  of  the  later  incarnations  of 
Buddha  are  described  differently  as  overshad- 
owings  by  the  spirit  of  Buddha,  but  in  the  per- 
son of  Snnkaracharya  he  reappeared  on  earth. 
The  object  he  had  in  view  was  to  fill  up  some 
gaps  and  repair  certain  errors  in  his  own  pre- 
vious teaching ;  for  there  is  no  contention  in 
esotoric  Buddhism  that  even  a  Buddha  can  be 
absolutely  infallible  at  every  moment  of  his 
career. 

The  position  was  as  follows  :  Up  to  the  time 


BUDDHA.  221 

of  Buddha,  the  Brahmins  of  India  had  jeal- 
ously reserved  occult  knowledge  as  the  appan- 
age of  their  own  caste.  Exceptions  were  oc- 
casionally made  in  favor  of  Tshatryas,  but  the 
rule  was  exclusive  in  a  very  high  degree.  This 
rule  Buddha  broke  down,  admitting  all  castes 
equally  to  the  path  of  adeptship.  The  change 
may  have  been  perfectly  right  in  principle,  but 
it  paved  the  way  for  a  great  deal  of  trouble, 
and  as  the  Brahmins  conceived  for  the  degrada- 
tion of  occult  knowledge  itself  ;  that  is  to  say, 
its  transfer  to  unworthy  hands, — not  unworthy 
merely  because  of  caste  inferiority,  but  because 
of  the  moral  inferiority  which  they  conceived 
to  be  introduced  into  the  occult  fraternit}^  to- 
gether with  brothers  of  low  birth.  The  Brah- 
min contention  would  not  by  any  means  be 
that  because  a  man  should  be  a  Brahmin  it  fol- 
lowed that  he  was  necessarily  virtuous  and 
trustworthy ;  but  the  argument  would  be  :  It  is 
supremely  necessary  to  keep  out  all  but  the  vir- 
tuous and  trustworthy  from  the  secrets  and 
powers  of  initiation.  To  that  end  it  is  neces- 
sary not  only  to  set  up  all  the  ordeals,  proba- 
tions, and  tests  we  can  think  of,  but  also  to 
take  no  candidates  except  from  the  class  which, 
on  the  whole,  by  reason  of  its  hereditary  advan- 
tages, is  likely  to  be  the  best  nursery  of  fit  can- 
didates. 


222  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

Later  experience  is  held  on  all  hands  now  to 
have  gone  far  towards  vindicating  the  Brah- 
min apprehension,  and  the  next  incarnation  of 
Buddha,  after  that  in  the  person  of  Sankara- 
charya,  was  a  practical  admission  of  this  ;  but 
meanwhile,  in  the  person  of  Sankaracharya, 
Buddha  was  engaged  in  smoothing  over,  before- 
hand, the  sectarian  strife  in  India  which  be  saw 
impending.  The  active  opposition  of  the  Brah- 
mins against  Buddhism  began  in  Asoka's  time, 
when  the  great  efforts  made  by  that  ruler  to 
spread  Buddhism  provoked  an  apprehension  on 
their  part  in  reference  to  their  social  and  polit- 
ical ascendency.  It  must  be  remembered  that 
initiates  are  not  wholly  free  in  all  cases  from 
the  prejudices  of  their  own  individualities. 
They  possess  some  such  god-like  attributes  that 
outsiders,  when  they  first  begin  to  understand 
something  of  these,  are  apt  to  divest  them,  in 
imagination,  even  too  completely  of  human 
frailties.  Initiation  and  occult  knowledge  held 
in  common  is  certainly  a  bond  of  union  among 
adepts  of  all  nationalities,  which  is  far  stronger 
than  any  other  bond.  But  it  has  been  found 
on  more  occasions  than  one  to  fail  in  obliterat- 
ing all  other  distinctions.  Thus  the  Buddhist 
and  Brahmin  initiates  of  the  period  referred  to 
were  by  no  means  of  one  mind  on  all  questions, 
and  the  Brahmins  very  decidedly  disapproved 


BUDDHA.  223 

of  the  Buddhist  reformation  in  its  exoteric  as- 
pects. Chandragupta,  Asoka's  grandfather,  was 
an  upstart,  and  the  family  were  Sudras.  This 
was  enough  to  render  his  Buddhist  policy  unat- 
tractive to  the  representatives  of  the  orthodox 
Brahmin  faith.  The  struggle  assumed  a  very 
embittered  form,  thougli  ordinary  history  gives 
us  few  or  no  particulars.  The  party  of  primi- 
tive Buddhism  was  entirely  worsted,  and  the 
Brahmin  ascendency  completely  reestablished 
in  the  time  of  Vikramaditya,  about  80  B.  C. 
But  Sankaracharya  had  traveled  all  over  India 
in  advance  of  the  great  struggle,  and  had  estab- 
lished various  mathams^  or  schools  of  philoso- 
phy, in  several  important  centres.  He  was 
only  engaged  in  this  task  for  a  few  years,  but 
the  influence  of  his  teaching  has  been  so  stu- 
pendous that  its  very  magnitude  disguises  the 
change  wrought.  He  brought  exoteric  Hindu- 
ism into  practical  harmony  with  the  esoteric 
"  wisdom  religion,"  and  left  the  people  amus- 
ing themselves  still  with  their  ancient  mytholo- 
gies, but  leaning  on  philosophical  guides  who 
were  esoteric  Buddhists  to  all  intents  and  pur- 
poses, thougli  in  reconciliation  with  all  that 
was  ineradicable  in  Brahmanism.  The  great 
fault  of  previous  exoteric  Hinduism  lay  in  its 
attachment  to  vain  ceremonial  and  its  adhesion 
to  idolatrous  conceptions  of  the  divinities  of  the 


224  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

Hindu  pantheon.  Sankaracliarya  empbasized, 
by  his  commentaries  on  the  Upanishads,  and  by 
his  original  writings,  the  necessity  of  pursuing 
gnyanam  in  order  to  obtain  moksha ;  that  is 
to  say,  the  importance  of  the  secret  knowledge 
to  spiritual  progress,  and  the  consummation 
thereof.  He  was  the  founder  of  the  Yedantin 
system,  —  the  proper  meaning  of  Vedanta  being 
the  final  end  or  crown  of  knowledge,  —  though 
the  sanctions  of  that  system  are  derived  by 
him  from  the  writings  of  Yyasa,  the  author  of 
the  "  Mahabharata,"  the  "  Puranas,"  and  the 
"  Brahmasutras."  I  make  these  statements, 
the  reader  will  understand,  not  on  the  basis  of 
any  researches  of  my  own,  —  which  I  am  not 
Oriental  scholar  enough  to  attempt,  —  but  on  the 
authority  of  a  Brahmin  initiate  who  is  himself  a 
first-rate  Sanskrit  scholar  as  well  as  an  occultist. 
The  Vedantin  school  at  present  is  almost  co- 
extensive with  Hinduism,  making  allowance,  of 
course,  for  the  existence  of  some  special  sects 
like  the  Sikhs,  the  Valhibacharyas,  or  Mahara- 
jah sect,  of  very  unfair  fame,  and  may  be  di- 
vided into  three  great  divisions,  —  the  Adwai- 
tees,  the  Vishislita  Adwaitees,  and  the  Dwaitees. 
Tlie  outline  of  the  Adwaitee  doctrine  is  that 
hrahmum  or  purush,  the  universal  spirit,  acts 
only  through  prakritl^  matter  ;  that  everytliing 
takes  place  in  this  way  through  the  inherent 


BUDDHA.  225 

energy  of  matter.  Braliraum,  or  Parabnihni,  is 
thus  a  passive,  incomprehensible,  unconscious 
principle,  but  the  essence,  one  life,  or  energy 
of  the  universe.  In  this  way  the  doctrine  is 
identical  with  the  transcendental  materialism  of 
the  adept  esoteric  Buddhist  philosophy.  The 
name  Adwaitee  signifies  not  dual,  and  has 
reference  partly  to  the  non- duality  or  unity 
of  universal  spirit,  or  Buddhist  one  life,  as 
distinguished  from  the  notion  of  its  operation 
through  anthropomorphic  emanations ;  partly 
to  the  unity  of  the  universal  and  the  liuman 
spirit.  As  a  natural  consequence  of  this  doc- 
trine, the  Adwaitees  infer  the  Buddhist  doctrine 
of  Karma,  regarding  the  future  destiny  of  man 
as  altogether  depending  on  the  causes  he  him- 
self engenders. 

The  Vishishta  Adwaitees  modify  these  views 
by  the  interpolation  of  Vishnu  as  a  conscious 
deity,  the  primary  emanation  of  Parabrahm, 
Vishnu  being  regarded  as  a  personal  god,  capa- 
ble of  intervening  in  the  course  of  human  des- 
tiny. They  do  not  regard  T/ocf,  or  spiritual 
training,  as  the  proper  avenue  to  spiritual 
achievement,  but  conceive  this  to  be  possible 
chiefly  by  means  of  Bhakti,  or  devoutness. 
Roughly  stated  in  the  phraseology  of  European 
theology,  the  Adwaitee  may  thus  be  said  to  be- 
lieve only  in  salvation  by  works,  the  Vishishta 

16 


226  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

Adwaitee  in  salvation  by  grace.  The  Dwaitee 
differs  but  little  from  the  Vishishta  Adwaitee, 
merely  affirming,  by  the  designation  he  as- 
sumes, with  increased  emphasis,  the  duality  of 
the  human  spirit  and  the  highest  principle  of 
the  universe,  and  including  many  ceremonial 
observances  as  an  essential  part  of  Bhakti, 

But  all  these  differences  of  view,  it  must  be 
borne  in  mind,  have  to  do  merely  with  the  ex- 
oteric variations  on  the  fundamental  idea,  intro- 
duced by  different  teachers  with  varying  im- 
pressions as  to  the  capacity  of  the  populace  for 
assimilating  transcendental  ideas.  All  lead- 
ers of  Vedantin  thought  look  up  to  Sankara- 
charya  and  the  Mathams  he  estabUshed  with 
the  greatest  possible  reverence,  and  their  inner 
faith  runs  up  in  all  cases  into  the  one  esoteric 
doctrine.  In  fact,  the  initiates  of  all  schools  in 
India  interlace  with  one  another.  Except  as 
regards  nomenclature,  the  whole  system  of  cos- 
mogony as  held  by  the  Buddhist-Arhats,  and  as 
set  forth  in  this  volume,  is  equally  held  b}^  in- 
itiated Brahmins,  and  has  been  equally  held 
by  them  since  before  Buddha's  birth.  Whence 
did  they  obtain  it  ?  the  reader  may  ask.  Their 
answer  would  be,  From  the  Planetary  Spirit,  or 
Dhyan  Ciiohan,  wlio  fii-^t  visited  this  planet  at 
the  dawn  of  the  liiinian  race  in  the  present 
round  period,  —  more  millions  of  years  ago  than 


BUDDHA.  227 

I  like  to  mention  on  the  basis  of  conjecture, 
while  the  real  exact  number  is  withheld. 

Sankaracharya  founded  four  principal  Math- 
ams :  one  at  Sringari,  in  Southern  India,  which 
has  always  remained  the  most  important ;  one 
at  Juggernath,  in  Orissa ;  one  at  Dwaraka,  in 
Kathiawar ;  and  one  at  Gungotri,  on  the  slopes 
of  the  Himalayas  in  the  North.  The  chief  of 
the  Sringari  temple  has  always  borne  the  desig- 
nation Sankaracharya,  in  addition  to  some  in- 
dividual name.  From  these  four  centres  others 
have  been  established,  and  Mathams  now  exist 
all  over  India,  exercising  the  utmost  possible 
influence  on  Hinduism. 

I  have  said  that  Buddha,  by  his  third  in- 
carnation, recognized  the  fact  that  he  had,  in 
the  excessive  confidence  of  his  loving  trust  in 
the  perfectibility  of  humanity,  opened  the  doors 
of  the  occult  sanctuary  too  widely.  His  third 
appearance  was  in  the  person  of  Tsong-ka-pa, 
the  great  Tibetan  adept  reformer  of  the  four- 
teenth century.  In  this  personality  he  was 
exclusively  concerned  with  the  affairs  of  the 
adept  fraternity,  by  that  time  collecting  chiefly 
in  Tibet. 

From  time  immemorial  there  had  been  a  cer- 
tain secret  region  in  Tibet,  which  to  this  day 
is  quite  unknown  to  and  unapproachable  by 
any  but  initiated  persons,  and  inaccessible  to 


228  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

the  ordinary  people  of  the  country  as  to  any 
others,  in  which  adepts  have  always  congre- 
gated. But  the  country  generally  was  not  in 
Buddha's  time,  as  it  has  since  become,  the 
chosen  habitation  of  the  great  brotherhood. 
Much  more  than  they  are  at  present  were  the 
Mahatmas  in  former  times  distributed  about 
the  world.  The  progress  of  civilization,  en- 
gendering the  magnetism  they  find  so  trying, 
had,  however,  by  the  date  with  which  we  are 
now  dealing  —  the  fourteenth  century  —  al- 
ready given  rise  to  a  very  general  movement 
towards  Tibet  on  the  part  of  the  previously 
dissociated  occultists.  Far  more  widely  than 
was  held  to  be  consistent  wdth  the  safety  of 
mankind  was  occult  knowledge  and  power  then 
found  to  be  disseminated.  To  the  task  of  put- 
ting it  under  the  control  of  a  rigid  system  of 
rule  and  law  did  Tsong-ka-pa  address  himself. 

Without  reestablishing  the  system  on  the 
previous  unreasonable  basis  of  caste  exclusive- 
ness,  he  elaborated  a  code  of  rules  for  the  guid- 
ance of  the  adepts,  the  effect  of  which  was  to 
weed  out  of  the  occult  bod}^  all  but  those  who 
sought  occult  knowledge  in  a  spirit  of  the  most 
sublime  devotion  to  the  highest  moral  prin- 
ciples. 

An  article  in  the  "  Theosophist  "  for  ]\Iarch, 
1882,  on  "  Re-incarnations  in  Tibet,"  for  the  com- 


BUDDHA.  229 

plete  trustworthiness  of  which  in  all  its  mystic 
bearings  I  have  the  highest  assurance,  gives  a 
great  deal  of  important  information  about  the 
branch  of  the  subject  with  which  we  are  now 
engaged,  and  the  relations  between  esoteric  Bud- 
dhism and  Tibet,  which  cannot  be  examined  too 
closely  by  any  one  who  desires  an  exhaustive 
comprehension  of  Buddhism  in  its  real  signifi- 
cation. 

"  The  regular  system,"  we  read,  "  of  the 
Lamaic  incarnations  of  '  Sangyas  '  (or  Buddha) 
began  with  Tsong-kha-pa.  This  reformer  is 
not  the  incarnation  of  one  of  the  five  celestial 
Dhyans,  or  heavenly  Buddhas,  as  is  generally 
supposed,  said  to  have  been  created  by  Sakya 
Muni  after  he  had  risen  to  Nirvana,  but  that  of 
Amita,  one  of  the  Chinese  names  for  Buddha. 
The  records  preserved  in  the  Gon-pa  (lamasery) 
of  Tda-shi  Hlum-po  (spelt  by  the  English  Teshu 
Lumho')  show  that  Sangyas  incarnated  himself 
in  Tsong-kha-pa,  in  consequence  of  the  great 
degradation  his  doctrines  had  fallen  into.  Until 
then  there  had  been  no  other  incarnations  than 
those  of  the  five  celestial  Buddhas  and  of  their 
Buddhisatvas,  each  of  the  former  having  cre- 
ated (read  overshadowed  with  his  spiritual  wis- 
dom) five  of  the  last  named.  ...  It  was  be- 
cause, among  many  other  reforms,  Tsong-kha-pa 
forbade  necromancy  (which  is  practiced  to  this 


230  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

day,  with  the  most  disgusting  rites,  by  the 
Bhons,  —  the  aborigines  of  Tibet,  with  whom 
the  Red  Caps,  or  Shammars,  had  always  fra- 
ternized) that  the  latter  resisted  his  authority. 
This  act  was  followed  by  a  split  between  the 
two  sects.  Separating  entirely  from  the  Gya- 
lukpas,  the  Dugpas  (Red  Caps),  from  the  first 
in  a  great  minority,  settled  in  various  parts  of 
Tibet,  chiefly  its  borderlands,  and  principally 
in  Nepaul  and  Bhootan.  But,  while  they  re- 
tained a  sort  of  independence  at  the  monastery 
of  Sakia-Djong,  the  Tibetan  residence  of  their 
spiritual  (?)  chief,  Gong-sso  Rimbo-chay,  the 
Bhootanese  have  been  from  their  beginning  the 
tributaries  and  vassals  of  the  Dalai  Lamas. 

"The  Tda-shi  Lamas  Avere  always  more 
powerful  and  more  highly  considered  than  the 
Dalai  Lamas.  The  latter  are  the  creation  of 
the  Tda-shi  Lama,  Nabang-lob-sang,  the  sixth 
incarnation  of  Tsong-kha-pa,  himself  an  incar- 
nation of  Amitabha,  or  Buddha." 

Several  writers  on  Buddhism  have  enter- 
tained a  theory,  which  Mr.  Clements  Mark- 
ham  formulates  very  fully  in  his  "  Narrative  of 
the  Mission  of  George  Bogle  to  Tibet,"  that 
whereas  the  original  scriptures  of  Buddhism 
were  taken  to  Ceylon  by  the  son  of  Asoka,  the 
Buddhism,  which  found  its  way  into  Tibet 
from  India  and  China,  was  gradually  overlaid 


BUDDHA.  231 

with  a  mass  of  dogma  and  metaphysical  spec- 
ulation. And  Professor  Max  Miiller  says: 
"The  most  important  element  in  the  Buddhist 
reform  has  always  been  its  social  and  moral 
code,  not  its  metaphysical  theories.  That  moral 
code,  taken  by  itself,  is  one  of  the  most  perfect 
which  the  world  has  ever  known  ;  and  it  was 
this  blessing  that  the  introduction  of  Buddhism 
brought  into  Tibet." 

"  The  blessing,"  says  the  authoritative  article 
in  the  "  Theosophist,"  from  which  I  have  just 
been  quoting,  "has  remained  and  spread  all 
over  the  country,  there  being  no  kinder,  purer- 
minded,  more  simple  or  sin- fearing  nation  than 
the  Tibetans.  But  for  all  that,  the  popular  la- 
maism,  when  compared  with  the  real  esoteric 
or  Arahat  Buddhism  of  Tibet,  oifers  a  contrast 
as  great  as  the  snow  trodden  along  a  road  in 
the  valley,  to  the  pure  and  un defiled  mass 
which  glitters  on  the  top  of  a  high  mountain 
peak." 

The  fact  is  that  Ceylon  is  saturated  with 
exoteric,  and  Tibet  with  esoteric,  Buddhism. 
Ceylon  concerns  itself  merely  or  mainly  with 
the  morals,  Tibet,  or  rather  the  adepts  of  Tibet, 
with  the  science,  of  Buddhism. 

These  explanations  constitute  but  a  sketch  of 
the  whole  position.  I  do  not  possess  the  argu- 
ments nor  the  literary  leisure  which  would  be 


232  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

required  for  its  amplification  into  a  finished  pic- 
ture of  the  relations  which  really  subsist  between 
the  inner  principles  of  Hinduism  and  those  of 
Buddhism.  And  I  am  quite  alive  to  the  pos- 
sibility that  many  learned  and  painstaking  stu- 
dents of  the  subject  will  have  formed,  as  the 
consequences  of  prolonged  and  erudite  research, 
conclusions  with  which  the  explanations  I  am 
now  enabled  to  give  may  seem  at  first  sight  to 
conflict.  But  none  the  less  are  these  expla- 
nations directly  gathered  from  authorities  to 
whom  the  subject  is  no  less  familiar  in  its  schol- 
arly than  in  its  esoteric  aspect.  And  their 
inner  knowledge  throws  a  light  upon  the  whole 
position  which  wholly  exempts  them  from  the 
danger  of  misconstruing  texts  and  mistaking 
the  bearings  of  obscure  symbology.  To  know 
when  Gautama  Buddha  was  born,  what  is  re- 
corded of  his  teaching,  and  what  popular  leg- 
ends have  gathered  round  his  biograph}-  is  to 
know  next  to  nothing  of  the  real  Buddha,  so 
much  greater  than  either  the  historical  moral 
teacher  or  the  fantastic  demi-god  of  tradition. 
And  it  is  only  when  we  have  comprehended  the 
link  between  Buddhism  and  Brahmanism  that 
the  greatness  of  the  esoteric  doctrine  rises  into 
its  true  proportions. 


CHAPTER  X. 
NIRVAKA. 

A  COMPLETE  assimilation  of  esoteric  teach- 
ing up  to  the  point  we  have  now  reached  will 
enable  us  to  approach  the  consideration  of  the 
subject  which  exoteric  writers  on  Buddhism 
have  generally  treated  as  the  doctrinal  starting- 
point  of  that  religion. 

Hitherto,  for  want  of  any  better  method  of 
seeking  out  the  true  meaning  of  Nirvana,  Bud- 
dhist scholars  have  generally  picked  the  word 
to  pieces,  and  examined  its  roots  and  fragments. 
One  might  as  hopefully  seek  to  ascertain  the 
smell  of  a  flower  by  dissecting  the  paper  on 
which  its  picture  was  painted.  It  is  difficult 
for  minds  schooled  in  the  intellectual  processes 
of  physical  research  —  as  all  our  Western  nine- 
teenth-century minds  are,  directly  or  indirectly 
—  to  comprehend  the  first  spiritual  state  above 
this  life,  that  of  Devachan.  Such  conditions  of 
existence  are  but  partly  for  the  understanding  ; 
a  higher  faculty  must  be  employed  to  realize 
them ;  and  all  the  more  is  it  impossible  to  force 


234  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

their  meaning  upon  another  mind  bywords.  It 
is  by  first  awakening  that  higher  faculty  in  his 
pu23il,  and  then  putting  the  pupil  in  a  position 
to  observe  for  himself,  that  the  regular  occult 
teacher  proceeds  in  such  a  matter. 

Now  there  are  the  usual  seven  states  of  Dev- 
achan,  suited  to  the  different  degrees  of  spirit- 
ual enlightenment  which  the  various  candidates 
for  that  condition  may  obtain  ;  there  are  rupa 
and  arupa  locas  in  Devachan,  —  that  is  to  say, 
states  which  take  (subjective)  consciousness  of 
form,  and  states  which  transcend  these  again. 
And  yet  the  highest  Devachanic  state  in  arupa 
loca  is  not  to  be  compared  to  that  wonderful 
condition  of  pure  spirituality  which  is  spoken  of 
as  Nirvana. 

In  the  ordinary  course  of  Nature  during  a 
round,  when  the  spiritual  monad  has  accom- 
plished the  tremendous  journey  from  the  first 
planet  to  the  seventh,  and  has  finished  for  the 
time  being  its  existence  there,  —  finished  all  its 
multifarious  existences  there,  with  their  respec- 
tive periods  of  Devachan  between  each,  —  the 
Ego  passes  into  a  spiritual  condition  different 
from  the  Devachanic  state,  in  which,  for  pe- 
riods of  inconceivable  duration,  it  rests  before 
resuming  its  circuit  of  the  worlds.  That  condi- 
tion may  be  regarded  as  the  Devachan  of  its 
Devachanic  states, —  a  sort  of  review  thereof ,  — 


NIRVANA.  235 

a  superior  state  to  those  reviewed,  just  as  the 
Devachanic  state  belonging  to  any  one  exist- 
ence on  earth  is  a  superior  state  to  that  of  the 
half-developed  spiritual  aspirations  or  impulses 
of  affection   of  the   earth-life.     That  period  — 
that  intercyclic  period  of  extraordinary  exalta- 
tion, as  compared  to  any  that  have  gone  before, 
as  compared  even  with  the  subjective  conditions 
of  the  planets  in  the  ascending  arc,  so  greatly 
superior  to  our  own  as  these  are  —  is  spoken 
of  in  esoteric  science  as  a  state  of  partial  Nir- 
vana.    Carrying  on   imagination  through    im- 
measurable vistas  of  the  future,  we  must  next 
conceive  ourselves  approaching  the  period  which 
would  correspond  to  the  intercyclic  period  of 
the  seventh  round  of  humanity,  in  which  men 
have  become  as  gods.     The  very  last  most  ele- 
vated and  glorious  of  the  objective  lives  having 
been  completed,  the  perfected  spiritual  being 
reaches  a  condition  in  which  a  complete  recol- 
lection of  all  lives  lived  at  any  time  in  the  past 
returns  to  him.     He  can  look  back  over  the 
curious  masquerade  of  objective  existences,  as 
it  will  seem  to  him  then,  over  the  minutest  de- 
tails  of   any  of   these    earth-lives   among   the 
number  through  which  he  has  passed,  and  can 
take  cognizance  of  them  and  of  all  things  with 
wliicli  they  were  in  any  way  associated ;  for  in 
regard  to  this  planetary  cham  he  has  reached 


236  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

omniscience.  This  supreme  development  of 
individuality  is  the  great  reward  which  Nature 
reserves  not  only  for  those  who  secure  it  pre- 
maturely, so  to  speak,  by  the  relatively  brief 
but  desperate  and  terrible  struggles  which  lead 
to  adeptship,  but  also  for  all  who  by  the  dis- 
tinct preponderance  of  good  over  evil  in  the 
character  of  the  whole  series  of  their  incar- 
nations have  passed  through  the  valley  of  the 
shadow  of  death  in  the  middle  of  the  fifth 
round,  and  have  worked  their  way  up  to  it  in 
the  sixth  and  seventh  rounds. 

This  sublimely  blessed  state  is  spoken  of  in 
esoteric  science  as  the  threshold  of  Nirvana. 

Is  it  worth  while  to  go  any  farther  in  specu- 
lation as  to  what  follows  ?  One  may  be  told 
that  no  state  of  individual  consciousness,  even 
though  but  a  phase  of  feeling  already  identified 
in  a  large  measure  with  the  general  conscious- 
ness on  that  level  of  existence,  can  be  equal  in 
spiritual  elevation  to  absolute  consciousness  in 
which  all  sense  of  individuality  is  merged  in  the 
whole.  We  may  use  such  phrases  as  intellect- 
ual counters,  but  for  no  ordinar}^  mind  —  dom- 
inated by  its  physical  brain  and  brain-born  in- 
tellect —  can  they  have  a  living  signification. 
^  All  that  words  can  conve}^  is  that  Nirvana  is 

•     a  sublime  state  of  conscious  rest  in  omniscience. 
It  would  be  ludicrous,  after  all  that  has  gone 


NIRVANA.  237 

before,  to  turn  to  the  various  discussions  wliich 
have  been  carried  on  by  students  of  exoteric 
Buddhism  as  to  whether  Nirvana  does  or  does 
not  mean  annihilation.  Worldly  similes  fall 
short  of  indicating  the  feeling  with  which  the 
graduates  of  esoteric  science  regard  such  a  ques- 
tion. Does  the  last  penalty  of  the  law  mean 
the  highest  honor  of  the  peerage?  Is  a  wooden 
spoon  the  emblem  of  the  most  illustrious  pre- 
eminence in  learning  ?  Such  questions  as  these 
but  faintly  symbolize  the  extravagance  of  the 
question  whether  Nirvana  is  held  by  Buddhism 
to  be  equivalent  to  annihilation.  And  in  some, 
to  us  inconceivable,  way  the  state  of  para-Nir- 
vana is  spoken  of  as  immeasurably  higher  than 
that  of  Nirvana.  I  do  not  pretend  myself  to 
attach  any  meaning  to  the  statement,  but  it 
may  serve  to  show  to  what  a  very  transcenden- 
tal realm  of  thought  the  subject  belongs. 

A  great  deal  of  confusion  of  mind  respecting 
Nirvana  has  arisen  from  statements  made  con- 
cerning Buddha.  He  is  said  to  have  attained 
Nirvana  while  on  earth  ;  he  is  also  said  to  have 
foregone  Nirvana  in  order  to  submit  to  renewed 
incarnations  for  the  good  of  humanity.  The 
two  statements  are  quite  reconcilable.  As  a 
great  adept,  Buddha  naturally  attained  to  that 
which  is  the  great  achievement  of  adeptship  on 
earth,  —  the  passing  of  his  own  Ego-spirit  into 


238  ESOTERW  BUDDHISM. 

the  ineffable  condition  of  Nirvana.  Let  it  not 
be  supposed  that  for  any  adept  such  a  passage 
is  one  that  can  be  lightly  undertaken.  Only 
stray  hints  about  the  nature  of  this  great  mys- 
tery have  reached  me,  but  putting  these  to- 
gether I  believe  I  am  right  in  saying  that  the 
achievement  in  question  is  one  which  only  some 
of  the  high  initiates  are  qualified  to  attempt, 
which  exacts  a  total  suspension  of  animation  in 
the  body  for  periods  of  time  compared  to  which 
the  longest  cataleptic  trances  known  to  ordinary 
science  are  insignificant,  the  protection  of  the 
physical  frame  from  natural  decay  during  this 
period  by  means  which  the  resources  of  occult 
science  are  strained  to  accomplish  ;  and  withal 
it  is  a  process  involving  a  double  risk  to  the 
continued  earthly  life  of  the  person  who  un- 
dertakes it.  One  of  these  risks  is  the  doubt 
whether,  when  once  Nirvana  is  attained,  the 
Ego  will  be  willing  to  return.  That  the  return 
will  be  a  terrible  effort  and  sacrifice  is  certain, 
and  will  only  be  prompted  by  the  most  devoted 
attachment  on  the  part  of  the  spiritual  traveler 
to  the  idea  of  duty  in  its  purest  abstraction. 
The  second  great  risk  is  that,  allowing  the  sense 
of  duty  to  predominate  over  the  temptation  to 
stay, —  a  temptation,  be  it  remembered,  that  is 
not  weakened  by  the  notion  that  any  conceivable 
penalty  can  attach  to  it,  —  even  then  it  is  al- 


NIRVANA.  239 

ways  doubtful  whether  the  traveler  will  be  able 
to  return.  In  spite  of  all  this,  however,  there 
have  been  many  other  adepts  besides  Buddha 
who  have  made  the  great  passage,  and  for 
whom,  those  about  them  at  such  times  have 
said,  the  return  to  their  prison  of  ignoble  flesh 
—  though  so  noble  ex  hypothesi  compared  to 
most  such  tenements  —  has  left  them  paralyzed 
with  depression  for  weeks.  To  begin  the  weary 
round  of  physical  life  again,  to  stoop  to  earth 
after  having  been  in  Nirvana,  is  too  dreadful 
a  collapse. 

Buddha's  renunciation  was  in  some  inexpli- 
cable manner  greater,  again,  because  he  not 
merely  returned  from  Nirvana  for  duty's  sake, 
to  finish  the  earth-life  in  which  he  was  engaged 
as  Gautama  Buddha,  but  when  all  the  claims 
of  duty  had  been  fully  satisfied,  and  his  right 
of  passage  into  Nirvana,  for  incalculable  jeons 
entirely  earned  under  the  most  enlarged  view 
of  his  earthly  mission,  he  gave  up  that  reward, 
or  rather  postponed  it  for  an  indefinite  period, 
to  undertake  a  supererogatory  series  of  incarna- 
tions, for  the  sake  of  humanity  at  large.  How 
is  humanity  being  benefited  by  this  renuncia- 
tion ?  it  may  be  asked.  But  the  question  can 
only  be  suggested  in  realit}^  by  that  deep-seated 
habit,  we  have  most  of  us  acquired,  of  estimat- 
ing benefit  by  a  physical  standard,  and  even 


240  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

in  regard  to  this  standard  of  taking  very  sliort 
views  of  human  affau-s.  No  one  will  have  fol- 
lowed me  through  the  foregoing  chapter  on  the 
Progress  of  Humanity  without  perceiving  what 
kind  of  benefit  it  would  be  that  Buddha  would 
wish  to  confer  on  men.  That  which  is  neces- 
sarily for  him  the  great  question  in  regard  to 
humanity  is  how  to  help  as  many  people  as  pos- 
sible across  the  great  critical  period  of  the  fifth 
round. 

Until  that  time  everything  is  a  mere  prepa- 
ration for  the  supreme  struggle,  in  the  estima- 
tion of  an  adept,  all  the  more  of  a  Buddha. 
The  material  welfare  of  the  existing  generation 
is  not  even  as  dust  in  the  balance  in  such  a  cal- 
culation ;  the  only  thing  of  importance  at  pres- 
ent is  to  cultivate  those  tendencies  in  mankind 
which  may  launch  as  many  Egos  as  possible 
upon  such  a  Karmic  path  that  the  growth  of 
their  spirituality  in  future  births  will  be  pro- 
moted. Certainly  it  is  the  fixed  conviction  of 
esoteric  teachers  —  of  the  adept  co-workers  with 
Buddha  —  that  the  very  process  of  cultivating 
such  spirituality  will  immensely  reduce  the  sura 
of  even  transitory  human  sorrow.  And  the 
happiness  of  mankind,  even  in  any  one  gener- 
ation only,  is  by  no  means  a  matter  on  which 
esoteric  science  looks  with  indifference.  So  the 
esoteric  policy  is  not  to  be  considered  as  some- 


NIRVANA.  241 

thing  so  hopelessly  up  m  the  air  that  it  will 
never  concern  any  of  us  who  are  living  now. 
But  there  are  seasons  of  good  and  bad  harvest 
for  wheat  and  barley,  and  so  also  for  the  de- 
sired growth  of  spirituality  amongst  men ;  and 
in  Europe,  at  all  events,  going  by  the  experi- 
ence of  former  great  races,  at  periods  of  devel- 
opment corresponding  to  that  of  our  own  now, 
the  great  present  uprush  of  intelligence  in  the 
direction  of  physical  and  material  progress  is 
not  likely  to  bring  on  a  season  of  good  harvests 
for  progress  of  the  other  kind.  For  the  mo- 
ment the  best  chance  of  doing  good  in  coun- 
tries where  the  uprush  referred  to  is  most 
marked  is  held  to  lie  in  the  possibility  that 
the  importance  of  spirituality  may  come  to  be 
perceived  by  intellect,  even  in  advance  of  be- 
ing felt,  if  the  attention  of  that  keen  though 
unsympathetic  tribunal  can  but  be  secured. 
Any  success  in  that  direction  to  which  these 
exphmations  may  conduce  will  justify  the  views 
of  those  —  but  a  minority  —  among  the  esoteric 
guardians  of  humanity  who  have  conceived  that 
it  is  worth  while  to  have  them  made. 

So  Nirvana  is  truly  the  keynote  of  esoteric 
Buddhism,  as  of  the  hitherto  rather  misdirected 
studies  of  external  scholars.  Tlie  great  end  of 
the  whole  stupendous  evolution  of  humanity  is 
to  cultivate  human  souls  so  that  they  shall  be 

16 


242  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

ultimately  fit  for  that  as  yet  inconceivable  con- 
dition. The  great  triumph  of  the  present  race 
of  planetary  spirits  wlio  have  reached  that  con- 
dition themselves  will  be  to  draw  thither  as 
many  more  Egos  as  possible.  We  are  far  as 
yet  from  the  era  at  which  we  may  be  in  serious 
danger  of  disqualifying  ourselves  definitively 
for  such  progress,  but  it  is  not  too  soon  even 
now  to  begin  the  great  process  of  qualification ; 
all  the  more  as  the  Karma,  wbich  will  prop- 
agate itself  through  successive  lives  in  that 
direction,  will  carry  its  own  reward  with  it,  so 
that  an  enlightened  pursuit  of  our  highest  in- 
terests in  the  verj^  remote  future  will  coincide 
with  the  pursuit  of  our  immediate  welfare  in 
the  next  Devachanic  period,  and  the  next  re- 
birth. 

Will  it  be  argued  that  if  the  cultivation  of 
spirituality  is  the  great  purpose  to  be  followed, 
it  matters  little  whether  men  pursue  it  along 
one  religious  pathway  or  another  ?  This  is  the 
mistake  which,  as  explained  in  a  former  chap- 
ter, Buddha  as  Sankaracharya  set  himself  es- 
pecially to  combat,  —  namely,  the  early  Hindu 
belief  that  mokslia  can  be  attained  by  hliakti 
irrespective  of  gnyanam ;  that  is,  that  salva- 
tion is  obtainable  by  devout  practices  irrespec- 
tive of  knowledge  of  eternal  truth.  The  sort 
of  salvation  we  are  talking  about  now  is  not 


NIRVANA.  243 

escape  from  a  penalty,  to  be  achieved  by  cajol- 
ing a  celestial  potentate  ;  it  is  a  positive  and 
not  a  negative  achievement,  —  the  ascent  into 
regions  of  spiritual  elevation  so  exalted  that 
the  candidate  aiming  at  them  is  claiming  that 
which  we  ordinarily  describe  as  omniscience. 
Surely  it  is  plain,  from  the  way  Nature  habit-  y 
ually  works,  that  under  no  circumstances  will 
a  time  ever  come  when  a  person,  merely  by 
reason  of  having  been  good,  will  suddenly  be- 
come wise.  The  supreme  goodness  and  ivisdom 
of  the  sixth-round  man,  who,  once  becoming 
that,  will  assimilate  by  degrees  the  attributes 
of  divinity  itself,  can  only  be  grown  by  degrees 
themselves ;  and  goodness  alone,  associated  as 
we  so  often  find  it  with  the  most  grotesque  re- 
ligious beliefs,  cannot  conduct  a  man  to  more 
than  Devachanic  periods  of  devout  but  unin- 
telligent rapture,  and  in  the  end,  if  similar  con- 
ditions are  reproduced  through  many  existences, 
to  some  painless  extinction  of  individuality  at 
the  great  crisis. 

It  is  by  a  steady  pursuit  of  and  desire  for 
real  spiritual  truth,  not  by  an  idle,  however 
well-meaning  acquiescence  in  the  fashionable 
dogmas  of  the  nearest  church,  that  men  launch 
their  souls  into  the  subjective  state,  prepared 
to  imbibe  real  knowledge  from  the  latent  om- 
niscience of  their  own  sixth   principles,  and  to 


244  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

re-incarnate  in  due  time  with  impulses  in  tlie 
same  direction.  Nothing  can  produce  more 
disastrous  effects  on  human  progress  as  regards 
the  destiny  of  individuals  than  the  very  preva- 
lent notion  that  one  religion,  followed  out  in  a 
pious  spirit,  is  as  good  as  another,  and  that  if 
such  and  such  doctrines  are  perhaps  absurd 
when  you  look  into  them,  the  great  majority  of 
good  people  will  never  think  of  their  absurdity, 
but  will  recite  them  in  a  blamelessly  devoted 
attitude  of  mind.  One  religion  is  by  no  means 
as  good  as  another,  even  if  all  were  productive 
of  equally  blameless  lives.  But  I  prefer  to 
avoid  all  criticism  of  specific  faiths,  leaving  this 
volume  a  simple  and  inoffensive  statement  of 
the  real  inner  doctrines  of  the  one  great  re- 
ligion of  the  world  which  —  presenting  as  it 
does  in  its  external  aspects  a  bloodless  and  in- 
nocent record  —  has  thus  been  really  produc- 
tive of  blameless  lives  throughout  its  whole 
existence.  Moreover,  it  would  not  be  by  a  ser- 
vile acceptance  even  of  its  doctrines  that  the 
development  of  true  spirituality  is  to  be  culti- 
vated. It  is  by  the  disposition  to  seek  truth,  to 
test  and  examine  all  which  presents  itself  as 
claiming  belief,  that  the  great  result  is  to  be 
brought  about.  In  the  East,  such  a  resolution 
in  the  highest  degree  leads  to  chelaship,  to  the 
pursuit  of  truth,  knowledge,  by  the   develop. 


NIRVANA.  245 

ment  of  inner  faculties  by  means  of  which  it 
may  be  cognized  with  certainty.  In  the  West, 
the  realm  of  intellect,  as  the  w^orlcl  is  mapped 
out  at  present,  truth  unfortunately  can  only  be 
pursued  and  hunted  out  with  the  help  of  many 
words  and  much  wrangling  and  disputation. 
But  at  all  events  it  may  be  hunted,  and,  if  it  is 
not  finally  captured,  the  chase  on  the  part  of 
the  hunters  will  have  engendered  instincts  that 
will  propagate  themselves  and  lead  to  results 
hereafter. 


CHAPTER  XL 

THE  UNIVERSE. 

In  all  Oriental  literature  bearing  on  the  con- 
stitution of  all  the  cosmos,  frequent  reference 
is  made  to  the  days  and  the  nights  of  Brahma; 
the  inbreathings  and  the  outbreathings  of  the 
creative  principle,  the  periods  of  manvantara^ 
and  the  periods  of  pralaya.  This  idea  runs 
into  various  Eastern  mythologies,  but  in  its 
symbolical  aspects  we  need  not  follow  it  here. 
The  process  in  Nature  to  which  it  refers  is  of 
course  the  alternate  succession  of  activity  and 
repose  that  is  observable  at  every  step  of  the 
great  ascent  from  the  infinitely  small  to  the  in- 
finitely great.  Man  has  a  manvantara  and  pra- 
laya every  four-and-twenty  hours,  his  periods 
of  waking  and  sleeping  ;  vegetation  follows  the 
same  rule  from  year  to  year  as  it  subsides  and 
revives  with  the  seasons.    The  world  too  has  its 


1  As  transliterated  into  English,  this  word  ma}'  be  written  either 
manwantara  or  manvantara ;  and  the  proper  pronunciation  is 
something  between  the  two,  with  the  accent  on  the  second  sylla- 
ble. 


THE    UNIVERSE.  247 

manvantaras  and  pralayas,  when  the  tide-wave 
of  humanity  approaches  its  shore,  runs  through 
the  evolution  of  its  seven  races,  and  ebbs  away 
again  ;  and  such  a  manvantara  has  been  treated 
by  most  exoteric  religions  as  the  whole  cycle  of 
eternity. 

The  major  manvantara  of  our  planetary 
chahi  is  that  which  comes  to  an  end  when  the 
last  Dhyan  Chohan  of  the  seventh  round  of 
perfected  humanity  passes  into  Nirvana.  And 
the  expression  has  thus  to  be  regarded  as  one 
of  considerable  elasticit3^  It  may  be  said  in- 
deed to  have  infinite  elasticity,  and  that  is  one 
explanation  of  the  confusion  which  has  reigned 
in  all  treatises  on  Eastern  religions  in  their  pop- 
ular aspects.  All  the  root-words  transferred  to 
popular  literature  from  the  secret  doctrine  have 
a  seven-fold  significance,  at  least  for  the  initiate, 
while  the  uninitiated  reader,  naturally  suppos- 
ing that  one  word  means  one  thing,  and  trjdng 
always  to  clear  up  its  meaning  by  collating  its 
various  applications,  and  striking  an  average, 
gets  into  the  most  hopeless  embarrassment. 

The  planetary  chain  with  which  we  are  con- 
cerned is  not  the  only  one  which  has  our  sun 
as  its  centre.  As  there  are  other  planets  be- 
sides the  Earth  in  our  chain,  so  there  are  other 
chains  besides  this  in  our  solar  system.  There 
are  seven  such,  and  there  comes  a  time  when 


248  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

all  these  go  into  pralaya  together.  This  is 
spoken  of  as  a  solar  pralaya,  and  within  the 
interval  between  two  such  pralayas  the  vast 
solar  manvantara  covers  seven  pralayas  and 
manvantaras  of  our  —  and  each  other  —  plan- 
etary chain.  Thought  is  baffled,  say  even  the 
adepts,  in  speculating  as  to  how  many  of  our 
solar  pralayas  must  come  before  the  great  cos- 
mic night  in  which  the  whole  universe,  in  its 
collective  enormity,  obeys  what  is  manifestly 
the  universal  law  of  activity  and  repose,  and 
with  all  its  myriad  systems  passes  itself  into 
pralaya.  But  even  that  tremendous  result, 
says  esoteric  science,  must  surely  come. 

After  the  pralaya  of  a  single  planetary  chain 
there  is  no  necessity  for  a  recommencement  of 
evolutionary  activity  absolutely  de  novo.  There 
is  only  a  resumption  of  arrested  activity.  The 
vegetable  and  animal  kingdoms,  which  at  the 
end  of  the  last  corresponding  manvantara  had 
reached  only  a  partial  development,  are  not 
destroyed.  Their  life  or  vital  energy  passes 
through  a  night  or  period  of  rest ;  they  also 
have,  so  to  speak,  a  Nirvana  of  their  own,  as 
why  should  they  not,  these  foetal  and  infant  en- 
tities ?  They  are  all  like  ourselves,  begotten  of 
the  one  element.  As  we  have  our  Dbyan  Cho- 
hans,  so  have  they,  in  their  several  kingdoms, 
elemental  guardians,  and  are  as  well  taken  care 


THE   UNIVERSE.  249 

of  in  tlie  mass  as  humanity  is  in  the  mass.  The 
one  element  not  only  fills  space  and  is  space, 
but  interpenetrates  every  atom  of  cosmic  mat- 
ter. 

When,  however,  the  hour  of  the  solar  pralaya 
strikes,  though  the  process  of  man  s  advance  on 
his  last  seventh  round  is  precisely  the  same  as 
usual,  each  planet,  instead  of  merely  passing 
out  of  the  visible  into  the  invisible,  as  he  quits 
it  in  turn,  is  annihilated.  With  the  beginning 
of  the  seventh  round  of  the  seventh  planetary 
chain  manvantara,  every  kingdom  having  now 
reached  its  last  cycle,  there  remains  on  each 
planet,  after  the  exit  of  man,  merely  the  maya 
of  once  living  and  existing  forms.  With  every 
step  he  takes  on  the  descending  and  ascending 
arcs,  as  he  moves  on  from  globe  to  globe  tlie 
planet  left  beliind  becomes  an  empty  chrysa- 
loidal  case.  At  his  departure  there  is  an  out- 
flow from  every  kingdom  of  its  entities.  Wait- 
ing to  pass  into  higher  forms  in  due  time,  they 
are  nevertheless  liberated,  and  to  the  day  of  the 
next  evolution  they  will  rest  in  their  lethargic 
sleep  in  space,  until  brought  into  life  again  at 
the  new  solar  manvantara.  The  old  elementals 
will  rest  till  they  are  called  on  to  become  in 
their  turn  the  bodies  of  mineral,  vegetable,  and 
animal  entities  on  another  and  a  higher  chain  of 
globes  on  their  way  to  become  human  entities, 


250  ESOTERIC  BUDDniSM. 

while  the  germinal  entities  of  the  lowest  forms 
—  and  at  tliat  time  there  will  remain  but  few 
of  such  —  Avill  hang  in  space,  like  drops  of 
water  suddenly  turned  into  icicles.  They  will 
thaw  at  the  first  hot  breath  of  the  new  solar 
manvantara,  and  form  the  soul  of  the  future 
globes.  The  slow  development  of  the  vegeta- 
ble kingdom,  up  to  the  period  we  are  now  deal- 
ing with,  will  have  been  provided  for  by  the 
longer  interplanetary  rest  of  man.  When  the 
solar  pralaya  comes,  the  whole  purified  human- 
ity merges  into  Nirvana,  and  from  that  inter- 
solar  Nirvana  will  be  reborn  in  the  higher  sys- 
tems. The  strings  of  worlds  are  destroyed, 
and  vanish  like  a  shadow  from  the  wall  when 
the  light  is  extinguished.  "  We  have  every 
indication,"  say  the  adepts,  ''  that  at  this  very 
moment  such  a  solar  pralaya  is  taking  place, 
while  there  are  two  minor  ones  ending  some- 
where." 

At  the  beginning  of  the  solar  manvantara 
the  hitherto  subjective  elements  of  the  material 
worlds,  now  scattered  in  cosmic  dust,  receiving 
their  impulse  from  the  new  Dhyan  Chohans  of 
the  new  solar  system  (the  highest  of  the  old 
ones  having  gone  higher)  will  form  into  pri- 
mordial ripples  of  life,  and,  separating  into  dif- 
ferentiating centres  of  activity,  combine  in  a 
graduated   scale  of   seven   stages  of  evolution. 


THE   UNIVERSE.  251 

Like  every  other  orb  of  space,  our  earth  has,  be- 
fore obtaining  its  ultimate  materiality,  to  pass 
through  a  gamut  of  seven  stages  of  density. 
Nothing  in  this  world  now  can  give  us  an  idea 
of  what  an  ultimate  stage  of  materiality  is  like. 
The  French  astronomer  Flammarion,  in  a  book 
called  "  La  Resurrection  et  la  Fin  des  Mondes," 
has  approached  a  conception  of  this  ultimate 
materiality.  The  facts  are,  I  am  informed, 
■with  slight  modifications,  much  as  he  surmises. 
In  consequence  of  what  he  treats  as  secular  re- 
frigeration, but  which  more  truly  is  old  age 
and  loss  of  vital  power,  the  solidification  and 
desiccation  of  the  earth  at  last  reaches  a  point 
when  the  whole  globe  becomes  a  relaxed  con- 
glomerate. Its  period  of  child-bearing  has  gone 
by  ;  its  progeny  are  all  nurtured ;  its  term  of 
life  is  finished.  Hence  its  constituent  masses 
cease  to  obey  those  laws  of  cohesion  and  aggre- 
gation which  held  them  together.  And  becom- 
ing like  a  corpse,  which,  abandoned  to  the  work 
of  destruction,  leaves  each  molecule  composing 
it  free  to  separate  itself  from  the  body,  and 
obey  in  future  the  sway  of  new  influences,  "  the 
attraction  of  the  moon,"  suggests  M.  Flamma- 
rion, "  would  itself  undertake  the  task  of  demo- 
lition by  producing  a  tidal  wave  of  earth  parti- 
cles instead  of  an  aqueous  ti(U'."  This  last  idea 
must  not  be  regarded  as  countenanced  by  oc- 


252  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

cult  science  except  so  far  as  it  may  serve  to 
illustrate  the  loss  of  molecular  cohesion  in  the 
material  of  the  earth. 

Occult  physics  pass  fairly  into  the  region  of 
metaphysics,  if  we  seek  to  obtain  some  indica- 
tion of  the  way  in  which  evolution  recommences 
after  a  universal  pralaya. 

The  one  eternal,  imperishable  thing  in  the 
universe,  which  universal  pralayas  themselves 
pass  over  without  destroying,  is  that  which 
may  be  regarded  indifferently  as  space,  dura- 
tion, matter,  or  motion  ;  not  as  something  hav- 
ing these  four  attributes,  but  as  something 
which  is  these  four  things  at  once,  and  always. 
And  evolution  takes  its  rise  in  the  atomic  po- 
larity which  motion  engenders.  In  cosmogony 
the  positive  and  the  negative,  or  the  active  and 
passive,  forces  correspond  to  the  male  and  fe- 
male principles.  The  spiritual  efflux  enters 
into  the  veil  of  cosmic  matter ;  the  active  is 
attracted  by  the  .passive  principle,  and  if  we 
may  here  assist  imagination  by  having  recourse 
to  old  occult  symbology,  the  great  Nag,  the 
serpent  emblem  of  eternity,  attracts  its  tail  to 
its  mouth,  forming  thereby  the  circle  of  eter- 
nity, or  rather  cycles  in  eternit3^  The  one 
and  chief  attribute  of  the  universal  spiritual 
principle,  the  unconscious  but  ever  active  life- 
giver,  is  to  expand  and  shed;   that  of  the  uni- 


THE   UNIVERSE.  253 

versal  material  piinciple  is  to  gather  in  and 
fecundate.  Unconscious  and  non-existing  when 
separate,  they  become  consciousness  and  life 
when  brought  together.  The  word  Brahma 
comes  from  the  Sanskrit  root  hrih^  to  expand, 
grow,  or  fructify,  esoteric  cosmogony  being  but 
the  vivifying  expansive  force  of  Nature  in  its 
eternal  revolution.  No  one  expression  can  have 
contributed  more  to  mislead  the  human  mind 
in  basic  speculation  concerning  the  origin  of 
thincrs  than  the  word  "creation."  Talk  of  ere- 
ation  and  we  are  continually  butting  against  the 
facts.  But  once  realize  that  our  planet  and  our- 
selves are  no  more  creations  than  an  iceberg,  but 
states  of  being  for  a  given  time,  —  that  their 
present  appearance,  geological  and  anthropolog- 
ical, are  transitory  and  but  a  condition  concom- 
itant of  that  stage  of  evolution  at  which  they 
have  arrived,  —  and  the  way  has  been  prepared 
for  correct  thinking.  Then  we  are  enabled  to 
see  what  is  meant  by  the  one  and  only  princi- 
ple or  element  in  the  universe,  and  by  the  treat- 
ment of  that  element  as  androgynous  ;  also  by 
the  proclamation  of  Hindu  philosophy  that  all 
things  are  but  maija.,  transitory  states,  except 
the  one  element  which  rests  during  the  maha- 
pralayas  only,  —  the  nights  of  Brahma. 

Perhaps  we  have  now  plunged  deeply  enough 
into  the  fathomless  mystery  of  the  great  First 


254  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

Cause.  It  is  no  paradox  to  say  that  simply 
by  reason  of  ignorance  do  ordinary  theologians 
think  they  know  so  much  about  God.  And  it 
is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  the  wondrously 
endowed  representatives  of  occult  science,  whose 
mortal  nature  has  been  so  far  elevated  and 
purified  that  their  perceptions  range  over  other 
worlds  and  other  states  of  existence,  and  com- 
mune directly  with  beings  as  much  greater 
than  ordinary  mankind  as  man  is  greater  than 
the  insects  of  the  field,  —  it  is  the  mere  truth, 
that  they  never  occupy  themselves  at  all  Tvith 
any  conception  remotely  resembling  the  God  of 
churches  and  creeds.  Within  the  limits  of  the 
solar  system,  the  mortal  adept  knows,  of  his 
own  knowledge,  that  all  things  are  accounted 
for  by  law,  working  on  matter  in  its  diverse 
forms,  ^Zws  the  guiding  and  modifying  influence 
of  the  highest  intelligences  associated  with  the 
solar  system,  the  Dhyan  Chohans,  the  perfected 
humanity  of  the  last  preceding  manvantara. 
These  Dhyan  Chohans,  or  planetary  spirits,  on 
whose  nature  it  is  almost  fruitless  to  ponder 
until  one  can  at  least  realize  the  nature  of  dis- 
embodied existence  in  one's  own  case,  impart 
to  the  reawakening  worlds  at  the  end  of  a 
planetary  chain  pralaya  such  impulses  that  ev- 
olution feels  them  throughout  its  whole  prog- 
ress.    The  limits  of  Nature's  great  law  restrain 


THE   UNIVERSE.  255 

their  action.  They  cannot  say,  Let  there  be 
paradise  throughout  space,  let  all  men  be  born 
supremely  wise  and  good  ;  they  can  only  work 
through  the  principle  of  evolution,  and  they 
cannot  deny  to  any  man  who  is  to  be  invested 
with  the  potentiality  of  development  himself 
into  a  Dhyan  Chohan  the  right  to  do  evil  if 
he  prefers  that  to  good.  Nor  can  they  prevent 
evil,  if  done,  from  producing  suffering.  Ob- 
jective life  is  the  soil  in  which  the  life-germs 
are  planted ;  spiritual  existence  (the  expression 
being  used,  remember,  in  contrast  merely  to 
grossly  material  existence)  is  the  flower  to  be 
ultimately  obtained.  But  the  %^uman  germ  is 
something  more  than  a  flower-seed  ;  it  has  lib- 
erty of  choice  in  regard  to  growing  up  or  grow- 
ing down,  and  it  could  not  be  developed  with- 
out such  liberty  being  exercised  by  the  plant. 
This  is  the  necessity  of  evil.  But  within  the 
limits  that  logical  necessity  prescribes,  the 
Dhyan  Chohan  impresses  his  conceptions  upon 
the  evolutionary  tide,  and  comprehends  the  ori- 
gin of  all  that  he  beholds. 

Surely  as  we  ponder  in  this  way  over  the 
magnitude  of  the  cyclic  evolution  with  which 
esoteric  science  is  in  this  way  engaged,  it  seems 
reasonable  to  postpone  considerations  as  to  the 
origin  of  the  whole  cosmos.  The  ordinary  man 
in  this  earth-life,  with  certainly  some  hundred 


256  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

many  earth-lives  to  come,  and  then  very  much 
many  important  intcr-incarnation  periods  (more 
important,  that  is,  as  regards  duration  and  the 
prospect  of  happiness  or  sorrow)  also  in  pros- 
pect, may  surely  be  most  wisely  occupied  with 
the  inquiries  whose  issue  will  affect  practical 
results  than  with  speculation  in  which  he  is 
practically  quite  uninterested.  Of  course  from 
the  point  of  view  of  religious  speculation  rest- 
ing on  no  positive  knowledge  of  anything  be- 
yond this  life,  nothing  can  be  more  important 
or  more  highly  practical  than  conjectures  as  to 
the  attributes  and  probable  intentions  of  the 
personal,  terrible  Jehovah,  pictured  as  an  om- 
nipotent tribunal  into  whose  presence  the  soul 
at  its  death  is  to  be  introduced  for  judgment. 
But  scientific  knowledge  of  spiritual  things 
throws  back  the  day  of  judgment  into  a  very 
dim  perspective,  the  intervening  period  being 
filled  with  activity  of  all  kinds.  Moreover,  it 
shows  mankind  that  certainly,  for  millions  and 
millions  of  centuries  to  come,  it  will  not  be  con- 
fronted with  any  judge  at  all,  other  than  that 
all-pervading  judge,  that  seventh  principle,  or 
universal  spirit,  which  exists  everywhere,  and, 
operating  on  matter,  provokes  the  existence  of 
man  himself,  and  the  world  in  which  he  lives, 
and  the  future  conditions  towards  which  he  is 
pressing.     The  seventh  principle,  undefinable, 


TEE   UNIVERSE.  257 

incomprehensible  for  us  at  our  present  stages 
of  enlightenment,  is  of  course  the  only  God 
recognized  by  esoteric  knowledge,  and  no  per- 
sonification of  this  can  be  otherwise  than  sym- 
bolical. 

And  yet  in  truth  esoteric  knowledge,  giving 
life  and  reality  to  ancient  symbolism  in  one 
direction  as  often  as  it  conflicts  with  modern 
dogma  in  the  other,  shows  us  how  far  from 
absolutely  fabulous  are  even  the  most  anthro- 
pomorphic notions  of  Deity  associated  by  ex- 
oteric tradition  with  the  beginning  of  tlie  world. 
The  planetary  spirit,  actually  incarnated  among 
men  in  the  first  round,  was  the  prototype  of 
personal  Deity  in  all  subsequent  developments 
of  the  idea.  The  mistake  made  by  uninstructed 
men  in  dealing  with  the  idea  is  merely  one  of 
degree.  The  personal  God  of  an  insignificant 
minor  manvantara  has  been  taken  for  the  Cre- 
ator of  the  whole  cosmos, —  a  most  natural  mis- 
take for  people  forced,  by  knowing  no  more  of 
human  destiny  than  was  included  in  one  ob- 
jective incarnation,  to  suppose  that  all  be^^ond 
was  a  homogeneous  spiritual  future.  The  God 
of  this  life,  of  course,  for  them,  was  the  God  of 
all  lives  and  worlds  and  periods. 

The  reader  will  not  misunderstand  me,  I 
trust,  to  mean  that  esoteric  science  regards  the 
planetary  spirit  of  the  first  round  as  a  god. 
17 


258  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

As  I  say,  it  is  concerned  with  the  working  of 
Nature  in  an  immeasurable  space,  from  an  im- 
measurable past,  and  all  through  immeasurable 
future.  The  enormous  areas  of  time  and  space 
in  which  our  solar  system  operates  is  explor- 
able  by  the  mortal  adepts  of  esoteric  science. 
Within  those  limits  they  know  all  that  takes 
place  and  how  it  takes  place,  and  they  know 
that  everything  is  accounted  for  by  the  con- 
structive will  of  the  collective  host  of  the 
planetary  spirits,  operating  under  the  law  of  ev- 
olution that  pervades  all  Nature.  They  com- 
mune with  these  planetary  spirits,  and  learn 
from  them  that  the  law  of  this  is  the  law  of 
other  solar  systems  as  well,  into  the  regions  of 
which  the  perceptive  faculties  of  the  planetary 
spirits  can  plunge,  as  the  perceptive  faculties 
of  the  adepts  themselves  can  plunge  into  the 
life  of  other  planets  of  this  chain.  The  law 
of  alternating  activity  and  repose  is  operating 
universally ;  for  the  whole  cosmos,  even  though 
at  unthinkable  intervals,  pralaya  must  succeed 
manvantara,  and  manvantara  pralaya. 

Will  any  one  ask.  To  what  end  does  this 
eternal  succession  work?  It  is  better  to  con- 
fine the  question  to  a  single  system,  and  ask.  To 
what  end  does  the  original  nebula  arrange  itself 
in  planetary  vortices  of  evolution,  and  develop 
worlds  in  which  the  universal  spirit,  reverber. 


TEE   UNIVERSE.  259 

ating  tlirougli  matter,  produces  form  and  life 
and  those  higher  states  of  matter  in  which  that 
which  we  call  subjective  or  spiritual  existence 
is  provided  for  ?  Surely  it  is  end  enough  to  sat- 
isfy any  reasonable  mind  that  such  sublimely 
perfected  beings  as  the  planetary  spirits  them- 
selves come  thus  into  existence,  and  live  a  con- 
scious life  of  supreme  knowledge  and  felicity 
through  vistas  of  time  which  are  equivalent  to 
all  we  can  imagine  of  eternity.  Into  this  un- 
utterable greatness  every  living  thing  has  the 
opportunity  of  passing  ultimately.  The  spirit 
which  is  in  every  animated  form,  and  which 
has  even  worked  up  into  these  from  forms 
we  are  generally  in  the  habit  of  calling  inan- 
imate, will  slowly  but  certainly  progress  on- 
wards until  the  working  of  its  untiring  influence 
in  matter  has  evolved  a  human  soul.  It  does 
not  follow  that  the  plants  and  animals  around 
us  have  any  principle  evolved  in  them  as  yet 
which  will  assume  a  human  form  in  the  course 
of  the  present  manvantara ;  but  though  the 
course  of  an  incomplete  revolution  may  be  sus- 
pended by  a  period  of  natural  repose,  it  is  not 
rendered  abortive.  Eventually  every  spiritual 
monad,  itself  a  sinless  unconscious  principle, 
will  work  through  conscious  forms  on  lower 
levels,  until  these,  throwing  off  one  after  an- 
other higher  and  higher  forms,  will  produce  that 


260  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

in  which  the  God-like  consciousness  may  be 
fully  evoked.  Certainly  it  is  not  by  reason  of 
the  grandeur  of  any  human  conceptions  as  to 
what  would  be  an  adequate  reason  for  the  ex- 
istence of  the  universe  that  such  a  consumma- 
tion can  appear  an  insufficient  purpose,  not  even 
if  the  final  destiny  of  the  planetary  spirit  him- 
self, after  periods  to  which  his  development 
from  the  mineral  forms  of  primeval  worlds  is  but 
a  childhood  in  the  recollection  of  the  man,  is  to 
merge  his  glorified  individuality  into  that  sum 
total  of  all  consciousness,  which  esoteric  meta- 
physics treat  as  absolute  consciousness,  which 
is  non-consciousness.  These  paradoxical  expres- 
sions are  simply  counters  representing  ideas  that 
the  human  mind  is  not  qualified  to  apprehend, 
and  it  is  waste  of  time  to  haggle  over  them. 

These  considerations  supply  the  key  to  eso- 
teric Buddhism,  a  more  direct  outcome  of  the 
universal  esoteric  doctrine  than  any  otlier  pop- 
ular religion  ;  for  the  effort  in  its  construction 
has  been  to  make  men  love  virtue  for  its  own 
sake  and  for  its  good  effect  on  their  future 
incarnations,  not  to  keep  them  in  subjection 
to  any  priestly  sj^stem  or  dogma  by  terrifying 
tlieir  fancy  with  the  doctrine  of  a  personal 
judge  waiting  to  try  them  for  more  than  their 
lives  at  their  death.  Mr.  Lillie  is  mistaken, 
admirable  as  his  intention  has  been,  and  syrai 


THE   UNIVERSE.  261 

pathetic  as  his  mind  evidently  is  with  the  beau- 
tiful morality  and  aspiration  of  Buddhism,  in 
deducing  from  its  temple  ritual  the  notion  of  a 
personal  God.  No  such  conception  enters  into 
the  great  esoteric  doctrine  of  Nature,  of  which 
this  volume  has  furnished  an  imperfect  sketch. 
Nor  even  in  reference  to  the  farthest  regions  of 
the  immensity  beyond  our  own  planetary  sys- 
tem does  the  adept  exponent  of  the  esoteric 
doctrine  tolerate  the  adoption  of  an  agnostic 
attitude.  It  will  not  suffice  for  him  to  say, 
"As  far  as  the  elevated  senses  of  planetary 
spirits,  whose  cognition  extends  to  the  outer- 
most limits  of  the  starry  heavens,  —  as  far  as 
their  vision  can  extend  Nature  is  self-sufficing  ; 
as  to  what  may  lie  beyond  we  offer  no  hypoth- 
esis." What  the  adept  really  says  on  this  head 
is,  "  The  universe  is  boundless,  and  it  is  a  stul- 
tification of  thought  to  talk  of  any  hypothesis 
setting  in  beyond  the  boundless,  —  on  the  other 
side  of  the  limits  of  the  limitless." 

Tliat  which  antedates  every  manifestation  of 
the  universe,  and  would  lie  beyond  the  limit  of 
manifestation,  if  such  limit  could  ever  be  found, 
is  that  which  underlies  the  manifested  universe 
within  our  own  purview,  —  matter  animated 
by  motion,  its  parabrahm,  or  spirit.  Matter, 
space,  motion,  and  duration  constitute  one  and 
the   same   eternal    substance  of  the    universe. 


262  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

There  is  nothing  else  eternal  absolutely.  That 
is  the  first  state  of  matter,  itself  perfectly  un- 
cognizable  by  physical  senses,  which  deal  with 
manifested  matter,  another  state  altogether. 
But  though  thus,  in  one  sense  of  the  word,  ma- 
terialistic, the  esoteric  doctrine,  as  any  reader 
of  the  foregoing  explanations  will  have  seen,  is 
as  far  from  resembling  the  gross  narrow-minded 
conception  of  Nature,  which  ordinarily  goes  by 
the  name  of  materialism,  as  the  north  pole 
looks  away  from  the  south.  It  stoops  to  ma- 
terialism, as  it  were,  to  link  its  methods  with 
the  logic  of  that  system,  and  ascends  to  the 
highest  realms  of  idealism  to  embrace  and  ex- 
pound the  most  exalted  aspirations  of  spirit. 
As  it  cannot  be  too  frequently  or  earnestly  re- 
peated, it  is  the  union  of  science  with  Religion, 
—  the  bridge  by  which  the  most  acute  and  cau- 
tious pursuers  of  experimental  knowledge  may 
cross  over  to  the  most  enthusiastic  devotee,  by 
means  of  which  the  most  enthusiastic  devotee 
may  return  to  eai'th  and  yet  keep  heaven  still 
around  him. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  DOCTKINE    KEVIEWED. 

Long  familiarity  with  the  esoteric  doctrine 
will  alone  give  rise  to  a  full  perception  of  the 
manner  in  which  it  harmonizes  with  facts  of 
Nature  such  as  we  are  all  in  a  position  to  ob- 
serve. But  something  may  be  done  to  indi- 
cate the  correspondences  that  may  be  traced 
between  the  whole  body  of  teaching  now  set 
forth  and  the  phenomena  of  the  world  around 
us. 

Beginning  with  the  two  great  perplexities  of 
ordinary  philosophy,  — the  conflict  between  free- 
will and  predestination  and  the  origin  of  evil, — 
it  will  surely  be  recognized  that  the  system 
of  Nature  now  explained  enables  us  to  deal 
with  those  problems  more  boldly  than  they  have 
ever  yet  been  handled.  Till  now  the  most  pru- 
dent thinkers  have  been  least  disposed  to  pro- 
fess that  either  by  the  aid  of  metaphysics  or 
religion  could  the  mystery  of  free-will  and 
predestination  be  unraveled.  The  tendency  of 
thought  has  been  to  relegate  the  whole  enigma 


2G4  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

to  the  region  of  the  unknowable.  And  strange 
to  say  this  has  been  done  contentedly  by  jDeo- 
pie  who  have  been  none  the  less  contented  to 
accept  as  more  than  a  provisional  hypothesis 
the  religious  doctrines  which  thus  remained  in- 
capable of  reconciliation  with  some  of  their 
own  most  obvious  consequences.  The  omnis- 
cience of  a  personal  Creator,  ranging  over  the 
future  as  well  as  the  past,  left  man  no  room  to 
exercise  the  independent  authority  over  his 
own  destinies,  which  nevertheless  it  was  ab- 
solutely necessary  to  a.llow  him  to  exercise  in 
order  that  the  policy  of  punishing  or  rewarding 
him  for  his  acts  in  life  could  be  recognized  as 
anything  but  the  most  grotesque  injustice.  One 
great  English  philosopher,  frankly  facing  the 
embarrassment,  declared  in  a  famous  posthu- 
mous essay  that  by  reason  of  these  considera- 
tions it  was  impossible  that  God  could  be  all- 
good  and  all-potent.  People  were  free  to  in- 
vest him  logically  with  one  or  other  of  these 
attributes,  but  not  with  both.  The  argument 
was  treated  with  the  respect  due  to  the  great 
reputation  of  its  author,  and  put  aside  with  the 
discretion  due  to  respect  for  orthodox  tenets. 

But  the  esoteric  doctrine  conies  to  our  rescue 
in  this  emergency.  First  of  all  it  honestly  takes 
into  account  the  insignificant  size  of  this  world 
compared  to  the  universe.     This  is  a  fact  of 


THE  DOCTRINE  REVIEWED.  265 

Nature,  which  the  early  Christian  church  feared 
with  a  true  instinct,  and  treated  with  the 
cruelty  of  terror.  The  truth  was  denied,  and 
its  authors  were  tortured  for  many  centuries. 
Established  at  last  beyond  even  the  authority 
of  paj^al  negations,  the  church  resorted  to  the 
"desperate  expedient,"  to  quote  Mr.  Rhys 
Davids'  phrase,  of  pretending  that  it  did  not 
matter. 

The  pretense  till  now  has  been  more  success- 
ful than  its  authors  could  have  hoped.  When 
they  dreaded  astronomical  discovery,  they  w^ere 
crediting  the  world  at  large  with  more  remorse- 
less logic  than  it  ultimately  showed  any  in- 
clination to  employ.  People  have  been  found 
wilUng,  as  a  rule,  to  do  that  which  I  have  de- 
scribed esoteric  Buddhism  as  not  requiring  us 
to  do,  —  to  keep  their  science  and  their  relig- 
ion in  separate  water-tight  compartments.  So 
long  and  so  thoroughly  has  this  principle  been 
worked  upon  that  it  has  finally  ceased  to  be 
an  argument  against  the  credibility  of  a  relig- 
ious dogma  to  point  out  that  it  is  impossible. 
But  when  we  establish  a  connection  between 
our  hitherto  divided  reservoirs  and  require 
them  to  stand  at  the  same  level,  we  cannot 
fail  to  see  how  the  insignificance  of  the  earth's 
magnitude  diminishes  in  a  corresponding  pro- 
portion the  plausibility  of  theories  that  require 


266  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

US  to  regard  the  details  of  our  own  lives  as 
part  of  the  general  stock  of  a  universal  Crea- 
tor's omniscience.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  un- 
reasonable to  suppose  that  the  creatures  inhab- 
iting one  of  the  smaller  planets  of  one  of  the 
smaller  suns  in  the  ocean  of  the  universe,  where 
suns  are  but  water-drops  in  the  sea,  are  exempt 
in  any  way  from  the  general  principle  of  gov- 
ernment by  law.  But  that  principle  cannot  co- 
exist with  government  by  caprice,  which  is  an 
essential  condition  of  such  predestination  as 
conventional  discussions  of  the  problems  before 
us  associate  with  the  use  of  the  word.  For, 
be  it  observed  that  the  predestination  which 
conflicts  with  free-will  is  not  the  predestina- 
tion of  races,  but  individual  predestination, 
associated  with  the  ideas  of  divine  grace  or 
wrath.  The  predestination  of  races,  under  laws 
analogous  to  those  which  control  the  general 
tendency  of  any  multitude  of  independent 
chances,  is  perfectly  compatible  with  individual 
free-will,  and  thus  it  is  that  the  esoteric  doc- 
trine reconciles  the  long-standing  contradiction 
of  Nature.  Man  has  control  over  his  own  des- 
tiny within  constitutional  limits,  so  to  speak  ; 
he  is  perfectly  free  to  make  use  of  his  natural 
rights  as  far  as  they  go,  and  they  go  practically 
to  infinity  as  far  as  he,  the  individual  unit,  is 
concerned.      But   the   average   human   action, 


THE  DOCTRINE  REVIEWED.  267 

under  given  conditions,  taking  a  vast  multiplic- 
ity of  units  into  account,  provides  for  the  un- 
failing evolution  of  the  cycles  which  constitute 
their  collective  destiny. 

Individual  predestination,  it  is  true,  may  be 
asserted,  not  as  a  religious  dogma  having  to  do 
with  divine  grace  or  wrath,  but  on  purely  met- 
aphysical grounds  ;  that  is  to  say,  it  may  be 
argued  that  each  human  creature  is  fundamen-" 
tally,  in  in  fan  C}^,  subject  to  the  same  influence 
by  similar  circumstances,  and  that  an  adult  life 
is  thus  merely  the  product  or  impression  of  all 
the  circumstances  which  have  influenced  such  a 
life  from  the  beginning,  so  that  if  those  circum- 
stances were  known  the  moral  and  intellectual 
result  would  be  known.  By  this  train  of  reason- 
ing it  can  be  made  to  appear  that  the  circum- 
stances of  each  man's  life  may  be  theoretically 
knowable  by  a  sufficiently  searching  intelli- 
gence ;  that  hereditary  tendencies,  for  example, 
are  but  products  of  antecedent  circumstances 
entering  into  any  given  calculation  as  a  pertur- 
bation, but  not  the  less  calculable  on  that  ac- 
count. This  contention,  however,  is  no  less  in 
direct  conflict  with  the  consciousness  of  human- 
ity than  the  religious  dogma  of  individual  pre- 
destination. The  sense  of  free-will  is  a  factor 
in  the  process  which  cannot  be  ignored,  and  the 
free-will  of  which  we  are  thus  sensible  is  not  a 


268  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM, 

mere  automatic  impulse,  like  the  twitching  of  a 
dead  frog's  leg.     The  ordinary  religious  dogma 
and  the  ordinary  metaphysical  argument  both 
require  us  to  regard  it  in  that  light ;  but  the 
esoteric  doctrine  restores  it  to  its  true  dignity, 
and  shows  us  the  scope  of  its  activity,  the  lim- 
its of  its  sovereignty.     It  is  sovereign  over  the 
individual  career,  but  impotent  in  presence  of 
the  cyclic  law,  which  even  so  positive  a  philos- 
opher as  Draper  detects  in  human  history,  — 
brief  as  the  period  is  which  he  is  enabled  to  ob- 
serve.    And  none  the  less  does  that  collateral 
quicksand  of  thought  which  J.  S.  Mill  discerned 
alongside  the  contradictions  of  theology  —  the 
great  question  whether  speculation  must  work 
with  the  all-good    or   all-potent   hypothesis  — 
find   its    explanation    in  the    system   now  dis- 
closed.    Those  great  beings,  the  perfected  efflo- 
rescence of  former  humanity,  w^ho,  though  far 
from  constituting  a  supreme  God,  reign  never- 
theless in  a  divine  way  over  the  destinies  of  our 
world,  are  not  only  not  omnipotent,  but,  great 
as  they  are,  are  restricted  as  regards  their  ac- 
tion by  comparatively  narrow  limits.     It  would 
seem  as  if,  when  the  stage  is,  so  to  speak,  pre- 
pared afresh  for  a  new  drama  of  life,  they  are 
able  to  introduce  some  improvements  into  the 
action,  derived  from  their   own  experience   in 
the   drama   with  which  they  were  concerned, 


THE  DOCTRINE  REVIEWED.  269 

but  are  only  capable,  as  regards  the  main  con- 
struction of  the  piece,  of  repeating  that  which 
has  been  represented  before.  They  can  do  on 
a  large  scale  what  a  gardener  can  do  with  dah- 
lias on  a  small  one  ;  he  can  evolve  considerable 
improvements  in  form  and  color,  but  his  flow- 
ers, however  carefully  tended,  will  be  dahlias 
still. 

Is  it  nothing,  one  may  ask  in  passing,  in  sup- 
port of  the  acceptability  of  the  esoteric  doctrine, 
that  natural  analogies  support  it  at  every  turn  ? 
As  it  is  below,  so  it  is  above,  wrote  the  early 
octult  philosophers ;  the  microcosm  is  a  mirror 
of  the  macrocosm.  All  Nature  lying  within 
the  sphere  of  our  physical  observation  verifies 
the  rule,  so  far  as  that  limited  area  can  exhibit 
any  principles.  The  structure  of  lower  animals 
is  reproduced  with  modifications  in  higher  ani- 
mals, and  in  man  ;  the  fine  fibres  of  the  leaf 
ramify  like  the  branches  of  the  tree,  and  the 
microscope  follows  such  ramifications,  repeated 
beyond  the  range  of  the  naked  eye.  The  dust- 
laden  currents  of  rain-water  by  the  roadside 
deposit  therein  "  sedimentary  rocks "  in  the 
puddles  they  develop,  just  as  the  rivers  do  in 
the  lakes  and  the  great  waters  of  the  world  over 
the  sea-bed.  The  geological  work  of  a  pond 
and  that  of  an  ocean  differ  merely  in  their 
scale,  and  it  is  only  in  scale  that  the  esoteric 


270  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

doctrine  shows  the  sublimest  laws  of  Nature 
differing,  in  their  jurisdiction  over  the  man 
and  their  jurisdiction  over  the  planetary  family. 
As  the  children  of  each  human  generation  are 
tended  in  infancy  by  their  parents,  and  grow 
up  to  tend  another  generation  in  their  turn,  so 
in  the  whole  humanity  of  the  great  manvantaric 
periods  the  men  of  one  generation  grow  to  be 
the  Dhyan  Chohans  of  the  next,  and  then  yield 
their  places  in  the  ultimate  progress  of  time  to 
their  descendants,  and  pass  themselves  to  higher 
conditions  of  existence. 

Not  less  decisively  than  it  answers  the  ques- 
tion about  free-will  does  the  esoteric  doctrine 
deal  with  the  existence  of  evil.  This  subject 
has  been  discussed  in  its  place  in  the  preceding 
chapter  on  the  Progress  of  Humanity,  but  the 
esoteric  doctrine,  it  will  be  seen,  grapples  with 
the  great  problem  more  closely  than  by  the 
mere  enunciation  of  the  way  human  free-will, 
which  it  is  the  purpose  of  Nature  to  grow,  nnd 
cultivate  into  Dhyan  Chohanship,  must  by  the 
hypothesis  be  free  to  develop  evil  itself  if  it 
likes.  So  much  for  the  broad  principle  in  oper- 
ation ;  but  the  way  it  works  is  traceable  in  the 
present  teaching  as  clearly  as  the  principle  it- 
self. It  works  through  physical  Karma,  and 
could  not  but  work  that  way  except  by  a  sus- 
pension of  the  invariable  law  that  causes  can- 


THE  DOCTRINE  ilEVIEWED.  271 

not  but  produce  effects.  The  objective  man 
born  into  the  physical  world  is  just  as  much 
the  creation  of  the  person  he  last  animated  as 
the  subjective  man  who  has  in  the  interim  been 
living  the  Devachanic  existence.  The  evil  that 
men  do  lives  after  them,  in  a  more  literal  sense 
even  than  Shakespeare  intended  by  those  words. 
It  may  be  asked,  How  can  the  moral  guilt  of  a 
man  in  one  life  cause  him  to  be  born  blind  or 
crippled  at  a  different  period  of  the  world's  his- 
tory several  thousand  years  later,  of  parents 
with  whom  he  has  had,  through  his  former  life, 
no  lack  of  physical  connection  whatever  ?  But 
the  difficulty  is  met  by  considering  the  opera- 
tion of  affinities  more  easily  than  may  be  im- 
agined at  the  first  glance.  The  blind  or  crip- 
pled child,  as  regards  his  physical  frame,  may 
have  been  the  potentiality  rather  than  the  prod- 
uct of  local  circumstances.  But  he  would  not 
have  come  into  existence  unless  there  had  been 
a  spiritual  monad  pressing  forward  for  incarna- 
tion, and  bearing  with  it  a  fifth  principle  (so 
much  of  a  fifth  principle  as  is  persistent,  of 
course)  precisely  adapted  by  its  Karma  to  in- 
habit that  potential  body.  Given  these  circum- 
stances, and  the  imperfectly  organized  child  is 
conceived  and  brought  into  the  world,  to  be  a 
cause  of  trouble  to  himself  and  others  —  an 
effect  becoming  a  cause  in  its  turn  —  and  a  liv- 


272  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

ing  enigma  for  philosophers  endeavoring  to  ex- 
plain the  origin  of  evil. 

The  same  explanation  applies,  with  modifica- 
tions, to  a  vast  range  of  cases  that  might  be 
cited  to  illustrate  the  problem  of  evil  in  the 
world.  Incidentally,  moreover,  it  covers  a  ques- 
tion connected  with  the  operation  of  the  Karmic 
law  that  can  hardly  be  called  a  difficulty,  as 
the  answer  would  probably  be  suggested  by  the 
bearings  of  the  doctrine  itself,  but  is  none  the 
less  entitled  to  notice.  The  selective  assimi- 
lation of  Karma-laden  spirits  with  parentage 
which  corresponds  to  tbeir  necessities  or  deserts 
is  the  obvious  explanation  which  reconciles 
rebirth  with  atavism  and  heredity.  The  child 
born  may  seem  to  reproduce  the  moral  and 
mental  peculiarities  of  parents  or  ancestors  as 
well  as  their  physical  likeness,  and  the  fact 
suggests  the  notion  that  his  soul  is  as  much  an 
offshoot  of  the  family  tree  as  his  physical  frame. 
It  is  unnecessary  to  enlarge  here  on  the  multi- 
farious embarrassments  by  Avhich  that  theory 
would  be  surrounded,  on  the  extravagance  of 
supposing  that  a  soul  thus  thrown  off,  like  a 
spark  from  an  anvil,  without  any  spiritual  past 
behind  it,  can  have  a  spiritual  future  before  it. 
The  soul,  which  was  thus  merely  a  function  of 
the  body,  would  certainly  come  to  an  end  with 
the  dissolution  of  that  out  of  which  it  arose 


THE  DOCTRINE  REVIEWED.  273 

The  esoteric  doctrine,  however,  as  regards  trans- 
mitted characteristics,  will  afford  a  complete 
explanation  of  that  phenomenon,  as  well  as  all 
others  connected  with  human  life.  The  family 
into  which  he  is  born  is  to  the  re-incarnating 
spirit  what  a  new  planet  is  to  the  whole  tide 
of  humanity  on  a  round  along  the  manvantaric 
chain.  It  has  been  built  up  by  a  process  of 
evolution  workini^j  on  a  line  transverse  to  that 
of  humanity's  approach ;  but  it  is  fit  for  human- 
ity to  inhabit  when  the  time  comes.  So  with 
the  re  -  incarnating  spirit :  it  presses  forward 
into  the  objective  world,  the  influences  which 
have  retained  it  in  the  Devaclianic  state  having 
been  exhausted,  and  it  touches  the  spring  of 
Nature,  so  to  speak,  provoking  the  development 
of  a  child  which  without  such  an  impulse  would 
merely  have  been  a  potentiality,  not  an  actual 
development,  but  in  whose  parentage  it  finds 
—  of  course  unconsciously  by  the  blind  opera- 
tion of  its  aflfinities  —  the  exact  conditions  of 
renewed  life  for  which  it  has  prepared  itself 
during  its  last  existence.  Certainly  we  must 
never  forget  the  presence  of  exceptions  in  all 
broad  rules  of  Nature.  In  the  present  case 
it  may  sometimes  happen  that  mere  accident 
causes  an  injury  to  a  child  at  birth.  Thus  a 
crippled  frame  may  come  to  be  bestowed  on  a 
spirit  whose  Karma  has  by  no  means  earned 
18 


274  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

that  penalty,  and  so  with  a  great  variety  of  ac- 
cidents. But  of  these  all  that  need  be  said  is 
that  Nature  is  not  at  all  embarrassed  by  her 
accidents ;  she  has  ample  time  to  repair  them. 
The  undeserved  suffering  of  one  life  is  am23ly 
redressed  under  the  operation  of  the  Karmic 
law  in  the  next  or  the  next.  There  is  plenty 
of  time  for  making  the  account  even,  and  the 
adepts  declare,  I  believe,  that,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  in  the  long  run  undeserved  suffering  oper- 
ates as  good  luck  rather  than  otherwise,  thereby 
deriving  from  a  purely  scientific  observation 
of  facts  a  doctrine  which  religion  has  benevo- 
lently invented  sometimes  for  the  consolation  of 
the  afflicted. 

While  the  esoteric  doctrine  affords  in  this 
way  an  unexpected  solution  of  the  most  per- 
plexing phenomena  of  life,  it  does  this  at  no 
sacrifice  in  any  direction  of  the  attributes  we 
may  fairly  expect  of  a  true  religious  science. 
Foremost  among  the  claims  we  may  make  on 
such  a  system  is  that  it  shall  contemplate 
no  injustice,  either  in  the  direction  of  wrong 
done  to  the  deserving,  or  of  benefits  bestowed 
on  the  undeserving  ;  and  the  justice  of  its  oper- 
ation must  be  discernible  in  great  things  and 
small  alike.  The  legal  maxim,  de  minimis  non 
curat  lex^  is  means  of  escape  for  human  fallibil- 
ity from  the  consequences  of  its  own  im  per  fee- 


THE  DOCTRINE  REVIEWED.  275 

tions.  There  is  no  such  thing  as  indifference 
to  small  things  in  chemistry  or  mechanics. 
Nature  in  physical  operations  responds  with  ex- 
actitude to  small  causes  as  certainly  as  to  great, 
and  we  may  feel  instinctively  sure  that  in  her 
spiritual  operations  also  she  has  no  clumsy  habit 
of  treating  trifles  as  of  no  consequence,  of  ig- 
noring small  debts  in  consideration  of  paying 
big  ones,  like  a  trader  of  doubtful  integrity  con- 
tent to  respect  obligations  which  are  serious 
enough  to  be  enforced  by  law.  Now  the  minor 
acts  of  life,  good  and  bad  alike,  are  of  necessity 
ignored  under  any  system  which  makes  the  final 
question  at  stake,  admission  to  or  exclusion 
from  a  uniform  or  approximately  uniform  con- 
dition of  blessedness.  Even  as  regards  that 
merit  and  demerit  which  is  solely  concerned 
with  spiritual  consequences,  no  accurate  re- 
sponse could  be  made  by  Nature  except  by 
means  of  that  infinitely  graduated  condition 
of  spiritual  existence  described  by  the  esoteric 
doctrine  as  the  Devachanic  state.  But  the 
complexity  to  be  dealt  with  is  more  serious  than 
even  the  various  conditions  of  Devachanic  ex- 
istence can  meet.  No  system  of  consequences 
ensuing  to  mankind  after  the  life  now  under 
observation  can  be  recognized  as  adapted  sci- 
entifically to  the  emergency,  unless  it  responds 
to  the  sense  of  justice,  in  regard  to  the  multi- 


276  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

farious  acts  and  habits  of  life  generally,  includ- 
ing those  which  merely  relate  to  physical  ex- 
istence, and  are  not  deeply  colored  by  right  or 
wrong. 

Now,  it  is  only  by  a  return  to  physical  exist- 
ence that  people  can  possibly  be  conceived  to 
reap  with  precise  accuracy  the  harvest  of  the 
minor  causes  they  may  have  generated,  when 
last  in  objective  life.  Thus,  on  a  careful  exam- 
ination of  the  matter,  the  Karmic  law,  so  unat- 
tractive to  Buddhist  students,  hitherto,  in  its 
exoteric  shape,  —  and  no  wonder, —  will  be  seen 
not  only  to  reconcile  itself  to  the  sense  of  justice, 
but  to  constitute  the  only  imaginable  method 
of  natural  action  that  would  do  this.  The  con- 
tinued individuality  running  through  successive 
Karmic  re-birtbs  once  realized,  and  the  corre- 
sponding chain  of  personal  existences  interca- 
lated between  each  borne  in  mind,  the  exquisite 
symmetry  of  the  whole  system  is  in  no  way 
impaired  by  that  feature  wdiich  seems  obnoxious 
to  criticism  at  the  first  glance,  —  the  successive 
baths  of  oblivion,  through  which  the  re-incar- 
nating spirit  has  to  pass.  On  the  contrary, 
that  oblivion  itself  is  in  truth  the  only  condition 
Du  which  objective  life  could  fairly  be  started 
afresli.  Few  earth-lives  are  entirely  free  from 
shadows,  the  recollection  of  which  would  darken 
a  renewed  lease  of  life  for  the  former  personal- 


THE  DOCTRINE  REVIEWED.  211 

ity.  And  if  it  is  alleged  that  the  forgetfulness 
in  each  life  of  the  last  involves  waste  of  experi- 
ence and  effort  and  intellectual  acquirements, 
painfully  or  laboriously  obtained,  that  objection 
can  only  be  raised  in  forgetfulness  of  the  Deva- 
chanic  life,  in  which,  far  from  being  wasted, 
such  efforts  and  acquirements  are  the  seeds 
from  which  the  whole  magnificent  harvest  of 
spiritual  results  will  be  raised.  In  the  same 
way,  the  longer  the  esoteric  doctrine  occupies 
the  mind  the  more  clearly  it  is  seen  that  every 
objection  brought  against  it  meets  with  a  ready 
reply,  and  only  seems  an  objection  from  the 
point  of  view  of  imperfect  knowledge. 

Passing  from  abstract  considerations  to  oth- 
ers partly  interwoven  with  practical  matters, 
we  may  compare  the  esoteric  doctrine  with  the 
observable  facts  of  Nature  in  several  ways  with 
the  view  of  directly  checking  its  teachings.  A 
spiritual  science  which  has  successfully  divined 
the  absolute  truth  must  accurately  fit  the  facts 
of  earth  whenever  it  impinges  on  earth.  A 
religious  dogma  in  flagrant  opposition  to  that 
which  is  manifestly  truth  in  respect  of  geology 
and  astronomy  may  find  churches  and  congre- 
gations content  to  nurse  it,  but  is  not  worth 
serious  philosophical  consideration.  How  then 
does  the  esoteric  doctrine  square  with  geology 
and  astronomy  ? 


278  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  it  constitutes 
the  only  religious  system  that  blends  itself  ea- 
sily with  the  physical  truths  discovered  by  mod- 
ern research  in  those  branches  of  science.  It 
not  only  blends  itself  with,  in  the  sense  of  tol- 
erating, the  nebula  hypothesis  and  the  stratifi- 
cation of  rocks ;  it  rushes  into  the  arms  of  these 
facts,  so  to  speak,  and  could  not  get  on  without 
them.  It  could  not  get  on  without  the  great 
discoveries  of  modern  biology  ;  as  a  system  rec- 
ommending itself  to  notice  in  a  scientific  age  it 
could  ill  afford  to  dispense  with  the  latest  ac- 
quisitions of  physical  geography,  and  it  may 
offer  a  word  of  thanks  even  to  Professor  Tyndall 
for  some  of  his  experiments  on  light,  for  he 
seems  on  one  occasion,  as  he  describes  the  phe- 
nomenon without  knowing  what  he  is  describ- 
ing, in  "Fragments  of  Science,"  to  have  pro- 
voked conditions  within  a  glass  tube  which  en- 
abled him  for  a  short  time  to  see  the  elementals. 

The  stratification  of  the  earth's  crust  is,  of 
course,  a  plain  and  visible  record  of  the  inter- 
racial cataclysms.  Physical  science  is  emerging 
from  the  habits  of  timidity,  which  its  insolent 
oppression  by  religious  bigotry  for  fifteen  cen- 
turies engendered,  but  it  is  still  a  little  shy  in 
its  relations  with  dogma,  from  the  mere  force 
of  habit.  In  that  way,  geology  has  been  con- 
tent to  say,  such  and  such  continents,  as  thei? 


THE  DOCTRINE  REVIEWED.  279 

shell-beds  testify,  must  have  been  more  than 
once  submersred  below  and  elevated  above  the 
surface  of  the  ocean.  It  has  not  yet  grown  used 
to  the  free  application  of  its  own  materials  to 
speculation,  which  trenches  upon  religious  ter- 
ritory. But  surely  if  geology  were  required  to 
interpret  all  its  facts  into  a  consistent  history 
of  the  earth,  throwing  in  the  most  plausible 
hypotheses  it  could  invent  to  fill  up  gaps  in  its 
knowledge,  it  would  already  construct  a  history 
for  mankind  which  in  its  broad  outlines  would 
not  be  unlike  that  sketched  out  in  the  chap- 
ter on  the  Great  World  Periods ;  and  the  fur- 
ther geological  discovery  progresses,  our  esoteric 
teachers  assure  us,  the  more  closely  will  the 
correspondence  of  the  doctrine  and  the  bony 
traces  of  the  past  be  recognized.  Already  we 
find  experts  from  the  Challenger  vouching  for 
the  existence  of  Atlantis,  though  the  subject  be- 
longs to  a  class  of  problems  unattractive  to  the 
scientific  world  generally,  so  that  the  considera- 
tions in  favor  of  the  lost  continent  are  not  yet 
generally  appreciated.  Already  thoughtful  ge- 
ologists are  quite  ready  to  recognize  that  in 
regard  to  the  forces  which  have  fashioned  the 
earth  this,  the  period  within  the  range  of  his- 
toric traces,  may  be  a  period  of  comparative 
inertia  and  slow  change  ;  that  cataclysmal  met- 
amorphoses may  have  been  added  formerly  to 


280  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

those  of  gradual  subsidence,  upheaval,  and  de- 
nudation. It  is  only  a  step  or  two  to  the  rec- 
ognition as  a  fact  of  what  no  one  could  any 
longer  find  fault  with  as  a  hypothesis :  that 
great  continental  upheavals  and  submergences 
take  place  alternately  ;  that  the  whole  map  of 
the  world  is  not  only  thrown  occasionally  into 
new  shapes,  like  the  pictures  of  a  kaleidoscope 
as  its  colored  fragments  fall  into  new  arrange- 
ments, but  subject  to  systematically  recurrent 
changes,  which  restore  former  arrangements  at 
enormous  intervals  of  time. 

Pending  further  discoveries,  however,  it  will, 
perhaps,  be  admitted  that  we  have  a  sufficient 
block  of  geological  knowledge  already  in  our 
possession  to  fortify  the  cosmogony  of  the  eso- 
teric doctrine.  That  the  doctrine  should  have 
been  withheld  from  the  w^orld  generally  as  long 
as  no  such  knowledge  had  paved  the  way  for 
its  reception  can  hardly  be  considered  indis- 
creet for  the  part  of  its  custodians.  Whetlier 
the  present  generation  will  attach  sufficient  im- 
portance to  its  correspondence  with  what  has 
been  ascertained  of  Nature  in  other  ways  re- 
mains to  be  seen. 

These  correspondences  may,  of  course,  be 
traced  in  biology  as  decisively  as  in  geology. 
The  broad  Darwinian  theory  of  the  Descent  of 
Man  from  the  animal  kingdom  is  not  the  only 


THE  DOCTRINE  REVIEWED.  281 

support  afforded  by  this  branch  of  science  to 
the  esoteric  doctrine.  The  detailed  observa- 
tions now  carried  out  in  embryology  are  espe- 
cially interesting  for  the  light  they  throw  on 
more  than  one  department  of  this  doctrine. 
Thus  the  now  familiar  truth  that  the  succes- 
sive stages  of  ante-natal  human  development 
correspond  to  the  progress  of  human  evolution 
through  different  forms  of  animal  life  is  noth- 
ing less  than  a  revelation,  in  its  analogical  bear- 
ings. It  does  not  merely  fortify  the  evolution- 
ary hypothesis  itself;  it  affords  a  remarkable 
illustration  of  the  way  Nature  works  in  the 
evolution  of  new  races  of  men  at  the  beginning 
of  the  great  round  periods.  When  a  child  has 
to  be  developed  from  a  germ  which  is  so  simple 
in  its  constitution  that  it  is  typical  less  of  the 
animal  —  less  even  of  the  vegetable  —  than  of 
the  mineral  kingdom,  the  familiar  scale  of  evo- 
lution is  run  over,  so  to  speak,  with  a  rapid 
touch.  The  ideas  of  progress  which  may  have 
taken  countless  ages  to  work  out  in  a  connected 
chain  for  the  first  time  are  once  for  all  firmly 
lodged  in  Nature's  memory,  and  thenceforth 
they  can  be  quickly  recalled  in  order,  in  a  few 
months.  So  with  the  new  evolution  of  human- 
ity on  each  planet  as  the  human  tide-wave  of 
life  advances.  In  the  first  round  the  process  is 
exceedingly  slow,  and   does    not   advance  far. 


282  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

The  ideas  of  Nature  are  themselves  under  ev- 
olution. But  when  the  process  has  been  ac- 
complished once  it  can  be  quickly  repeated. 
In  the  later  rounds,  the  life  impulse  runs  up 
the  gamut  of  evolution  with  a  facility  only 
conceivable  by  help  of  the  illustration  which 
embryology  affords.  This  is  the  explanation 
of  the  way  the  character  of  each  round  differs 
from  its  predecessor.  The  evolutionary  work 
which  has  been  once  accomplished  is  soon  re- 
peated ;  then  the  round  performs  its  own  evo- 
lution at  a  very  different  rate,  as  the  child,  once 
perfected  up  to  the  human  type,  performs  its 
own  individual  growth  but  slowly,  in  proportion 
to  the  earlier  stages  of  its  initial  development. 

No  elaborate  comparison  of  exoteric  Bud- 
dhism with  the  views  of  Nature  which  have  now 
been  set  forth  —  briefly,  indeed,  considering 
their  scope  and  importance,  but  comprehensive- 
ly enough  to  furnish  the  reader  with  a  general 
idea  of  the  system  in  its  whole  enormous  range 
—  will  be  required  from  me.  With  the  help  of 
the  information  now  communicated,  more  ex- 
perienced students  of  Buddhist  literature  will  be 
better  able  to  apply  to  the  enigmas  that  it  may 
contain  the  keys  which  will  unlock  their  mean- 
ing. The  gaps  in  the  public  records  of  Bud- 
dha's teaching  will  be  filled  up  readily  enough 
now,  and  it  will  be  plain  why  they  were  left. 


THE  DOCTRINE  REVIEWED.  283 

For  example,  in  Mr.  Rhys  Davids'  book  I  find 
this  :  "  Buddhism  does  not  attempt  to  solve  the 
problem  of  the  primary  origin  of  all  things ; " 
and   quoting  from    Hardy's  "Manual  of    Bud- 
dhism," he  goes  on,  "  When  Malunka  asked  the 
Buddha  whether  the  existence  of  the  world  is 
eternal  or  not  eternal,  he  made  him  no  reply ; 
but  the  reason  of  this  was  that  it  was  considered 
by  the  teacher  as  an  inquiry  that  tended  to  no 
profit."     In  reality  the  subject  was  manifestly 
passed  over  because  it  could  not  be  dealt  with 
by  a  plain  yes  or  no,  without  putting  the  in- 
quirer upon  a  false  scent ;  while  to  put  him  on 
the  true  scent  would  have  required  a  complete 
exposition  of  the  whole  doctrine  about  the  ev- 
olution of  the  planetary  chain,  an  explanation 
of  that   for  which  the   community  Buddha  was 
dealing   with  was  not  intellectually  ripe.     To 
infer  from  his  silence  that  he  regarded  the  in- 
quiry itself  as  tending  to  no  profit  is  a  mistake 
which  may  naturally  enough  have  been   made 
in  the  absence  of  any  collateral  knowledge,  but 
none  can  be  more  complete  in  reality.     No  re- 
ligious system  that  ever  publicly  employed  it- 
self on  the  problem  of  the  origin  of  all   things 
has,  as  will  now  be  seen,  done  more  than  scratch 
the  surface  of  that  speculation,  in  comparison 
with  the  exhaustive  researches  of  the  esoteric 
science  of  which  Buddha  was  no  less  prominent 


284  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

an  exponent  than  he  was  a  prominent  teacher 
of  morals  for  the  popuhice. 

The  positive  conckisions  as  to  what  Bud- 
dhism does  teach  —  carefully  as  he  has  worked 
them  out  —  are  no  less  inaccurately  set  forth 
by  Mr.  Rhys  Davids  than  the  negative  conclu- 
sion just  quoted.  It  was  inevitable  that  all 
such  conclusions  should  hitherto  be  inaccurate. 
I  quote  an  example,  not  to  disparage  the  careful 
study  of  which  it  is  the  fruit,  but  to  show  how 
the  light  now  shed  over  the  whole  subject  pen- 
etrates every  cranny  and  puts  an  entirely  new 
complexion  on  all  its  features :  — 

"  Buddhism  takes  as  its  ultimate  fact  the  ex- 
istence of  the  material  world,  and  of  conscious 
beings  living  within  it ;  and  it  holds  that  every- 
thing is  subject  to  the  law  of  cause  and  ef- 
fect, and  that  everything  is  constantly,  though 
imperceptibly,  changing.  There  is  no  place 
where  this  law  does  not  operate  ;  no  heaven 
or  hell,  therefore,  in  the  ordinary  sense.  There 
are  worlds  where  angels  live,  whose  existence 
is  more  or  less  material  according  as  their  pre- 
vious lives  were  more  or  less  holy  ;  but  the 
angels  die,  and  the  worlds  they  inhabit  pass 
away.  There  are  places  of  torment,  where  the 
evil  actions  of  men  or  angels  produce  unhappy 
beings  ;  but  when  the  active  power  of  the  evil 
that   produced   them  is   exhausted,    they   will 


TEE  DOCTRINE  REVIEWED.  285 

vanish,  and  the  worlds  they  inhabit  are  not 
eternal.  The  whole  Kosmos  —  eartli  and  heav- 
ens and  hells  —  is  always  tending  to  renova- 
tion or  destruction,  is  always  in  a  course  of 
change,  a  series  of  revolutions  or  of  cycles,  of 
which  the  beginning  and  the  end  alike  are 
unknowable  and  unknown.  To  this  universal 
law  of  composition  and  dissolution  men  and 
g(^ds  form  no  exception  ;  the  unity  of  forces 
which  constitutes  a  sentient  being  must  sooner 
or  later  be  dissolved,  and  it  is  only  through 
ignorance  and  delusion  that  such  a  being  in- 
dulges in  the  dream  that  it  is  a  separable  and 
self-existent  entity." 

Now  certainly  this  passage  might  be  taken  to 
show  how  the  popular  notions  of  Buddhist  phi- 
losophy are  manifestly  thrown  off  from  the  real 
esoteric  philosophy.  Most  assuredly  that  phi- 
losophy no  more  finds  in  the  universe  than  in 
the  belief  of  any  truly  enlightened  thinker,  Asi- 
atic or  European,  the  unchangeable  and  eter- 
nal heaven  and  hell  of  monkish  legend  ;  and 
'Hhe  worlds  where  angels  live,"  and  so  on, — 
the  vividly  real  though  subjective  strata  of  the 
Devachanic  state,  —  are  found  in  Nature  truly 
enough.  So  with  all  the  rest  of  the  popular 
Buddhist  conceptions  just  passed  in  review. 
But  in  their  popular  form  they  ^re  the  nearest 
caricatures  of  the  corresponding  items  of  eso- 


286  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

teric  knowledge.  Thus  the  notion  about  indi- 
viduality being  a  delusion,  and  the  ultimate 
dissolution  as  such  of  the  sentient  being,  is 
perfectly  unintelligible  without  fuller  explana- 
tions concerning  the  multitudinous  a^ons  of  in- 
dividual life,  in  as  yet,  to  us,  inconceivable  but 
ever-progressive  conditions  of  spiritual  exalta- 
tion, which  come  before  that  unutterably  remote 
mergence  into  the  non-individualized  condition. 
That  condition  certainly  must  be  somewhere  in 
futurity,  but  its  nature  is  something  which  no 
uninitiated  philosopher,  at  any  rate,  has  ever 
yet  comprehended  by  so  much  as  the  faintest 
glimmering  guess.  As  with  the  idea  of  Nir- 
vana, so  with  this  about  the  delusion  of  indi- 
viduality, writers  on  Buddhist  doctrine  derived 
from  exoteric  sources  have  most  unfortunately 
found  themselves  entangled  with  some  of  the 
remote  elements  of  the  great  doctrine,  under 
the  impression  that  they  were  dealing  with 
Buddhist  views  of  conditions  immediately  suc- 
ceeding this  life.  The  statement,  which  is  al- 
most absurd,  thus  put  out  of  its  proper  place  in 
the  whole  doctrine,  may  be  felt  not  only  as  no 
longer  an  outrage  on  the  understanding,  but 
as  a  sublime  truth  when  restored  to  its  proper 
place  in  relation  to  other  truths.  The  ultimate 
mergence  of  the  perfected  man-god,  or  Dhyan 
Chohan,  in  the  absolute  consciousness  of  para^ 


THE  DOCTRINE  REVIEWED.  287 

nirvana  has  nothing  to  do,  let  me  add,  with 
the  "  heresy  of  individuality,"  which  relates  to 
physical  personalities.  To  this  subject  I  recur 
a  little  later  on. 

Justly  enough,  Mr.  Rhys  Davids  says,  in  ref- 
erence to  the  epitome  of  Buddhist  doctrine 
quoted  above :  "  Such  teachings  are  by  no 
means  peculiar  to  Buddhism,  and  similar  ideas 
lie  at  the  foundation  of  earlier  Indian  philoso- 
phies." (Certainly  by  reason  of  the  fact  that 
Buddhism  as  concerned  with  doctrine  was  ear- 
lier Indian  philosophy  itself.)  "  They  are  to 
be  found,  indeed,  in  other  systems  widety  sepa- 
rated from  them  in  time  and  place  ;  and  Bud- 
dhism, in  dealing  with  the  truth  which  they 
contain,  might  have  given  a  more  decisive  and 
more  lasting  utterance  if  it  had  not  also  bor- 
rowed a  belief  in  the  curious  doctrine  of  trans- 
migration, —  a  doctrine  which  seems  to  have 
arisen  independently,  if  not  simultaneoush^  in 
the  valley  of  the  Ganges  and  the  valley  of  the 
Nile.  The  word  transmigration  has  been  used, 
however,  in  different  times  and  at  different 
places  for  theories  similai',  indeed,  but  very  dif- 
ferent ;  and  Buddhism,  in  adopting  the  general 
idea  from  post-Vedic  Brahmanism,  so  modified 
it  as  to  originate,  in  fact,  a  new  hypothesis. 
The  new  hypothesis,  like  the  old  one,  related  to 
life  in  past  and  future  bi/ths,  and  contributed 


288  ESOTERIC  BUDDUISM. 

nothing  to  the  removal  here,  in  this  life,  of  the 
evil  it  was  supposed  to  explain." 

The  present  Yolume  should  have  dissipated 
the  misapprehensions  on  which  these  remarks 
rest.  Buddhism  does  not  believe  in  anything 
resembling  the  passage  backwards  and  forwards 
between  animal  and  human  forms,  which  most 
people  conceive  to  be  meant  by  the  principle  of 
transmigration.  The  transmigration  of  Bud- 
dhism is  the  transmigration  of  Darwinian  evo- 
lution scientifically  developed,  or  rather  exhaust- 
ivel}^  explored,  in  both  directions.  Buddhist 
writings  certainly'  contain  allusions  to  former 
births,  in  which  even  the  Buddha  himself  was 
now  one  and  now  another  kind  of  animal.  But 
these  had  reference  to  the  remote  course  of  pre- 
human evolution,  of  which  his  fully  opened 
vision  gave  him  a  retrospect.  Never  in  any 
authentic  Buddhist  writings  will  any  support 
be  found  for  the  notion  that  any  human  crea- 
ture, once  having  attained  manhood,  falls  back 
into  the  animal  kingdom.  Again,  while  noth- 
ing, indeed,  could  be  more  ineffectual  as  an  ex- 
planation of  the  origin  of  evil  than  such  a  cari- 
cature of  transmigration  as  would  contemplate 
such  a  return,  the  progressive  re-births  of  human 
Egos  into  objective  existence,  con{)led  Avitli  the 
operation  of  physical  Karma  and  tlie  inevitable 
play  of  free-will  within  the  limits  of  its  privi- 


THE  DOCTRINE  REVIEWED.  289 

lege,  do  explain  the  origin  of  evil,  finally  and 
completely.  The  effort  of  Nature  being  to  grow 
a  new  harvest  of  Dhyan  Chohans  whenever  a 
planetary  system  is  evolved,  the  incidental  de- 
velopment of  transitory  evil  is  an  unavoidable 
consequence  under  the  operation  of  the  forces 
or  processes  just  mentioned,  themselves  una- 
voidable stages  in  the  stupendous  enterprise 
set  on  foot. 

At  the  same  time  the  reader  who  will  now 
take  up  Mr.  Rhys  Davids'  book  and  examine 
the  long  passnge  on  this  subject,  and  on  the 
skandhas,  will  realize  how  utterly  hopeless  a 
task  it  was  to  attempt  the  deduction  of  any  ra- 
tional theory  of  the  origin  of  evil  from  the  exo- 
teric materials  there  made  use  of.  Nor  was  it 
possible  for  these  materials  to  suggest  the  true 
explanation  of  the  passage  immediately  after- 
wards, quoted  from  the  Brahmajala  Sutra  :  — 

"After  showing  how  the  unfounded  belief 
in  the  eternal  existence  of  God  or  gods  arose, 
Gautama  goes  on  to  discuss  the  question  of  the 
soul,  and  points  out  thirty-two  beliefs  concern- 
ing it,  which  he  declares  to  be  wrong.  These 
are  shortly  as  follows :  '  Upon  what  principle, 
or  on  what  ground,  do  these  mendicants  and 
Brahmans  hold  the  doctrine  of  future  existence? 
They  teach  that  the  soul  is  material,  or  is  im- 
material, or  is  both  or  neither ;  that  it  will 
19 


290  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

have  one  or  many  modes  of  consciousness ;  that 
its  perceptions  will  be  few  or  boundless ;  that 
it  will  be  in  a  state  of  joy  or  of  misery,  or  of 
neither.  These  are  the  sixteen  heresies,  teach- 
ing a  conscious  existence  after  death.  Then 
there  are  eight  heresies  teaching  that  the  soul, 
material  or  immaterial,  or  both  or  neither,  finite 
or  infinite,  or  both  or  neither,  has  one  uncon- 
scious existence  after  death.  And,  finally,  eight 
others  which  teach  that  the  soul,  in  the  same 
eight  ways,  exists  after  death  in  a  state  of  be- 
ing neither  conscious  nor  unconscious.'  '  Men- 
dicants,' concludes  the  sermon,  '  that  which 
binds  the  teacher  to  existence  (viz.,  tanha^ 
thirst),  is  cut  off,  but  his  body  still  remains. 
While  his  body  shall  remain,  he  will  be  seen 
by  gods  and  men,  but  after  the  termination  of 
life,  upon  the  dissolution  of  the  body,  neither 
gods  nor  men  will  see  him.'  Would  it  be  pos- 
sible in  a  more  complete  and  categorical  man- 
ner to  deny  that  there  is  any  soul,  —  anything 
of  any  kind  which  continues  to  exist  in  any 
manner  after  death  ?  " 

Certainly,  for  exoteric  students,  such  a  pas- 
sage as  this  could  not  but  seem  in  flagrant  con- 
tradiction with  those  teachings  of  Buddhism 
which  deal  with  the  successive  passages  of  the 
same  individuality  through  several  incarnations, 
and  which  thus  along  another  line  of  thought 


THE  DOCTRINE  REVIEWED.  291 

may  seem  to  assume  the  existence  of  a  trans- 
missible soul  as  plainly  as  the  passage  quoted 
denies  it.  Without  a  comprehension  of  the 
seven  principles  of  man,  no  separate  utterances 
on  the  various  aspects  of  this  question  of  im- 
mortality could  possibly  be  reconciled.  But 
the  key  now  given  leaves  the  apparent  contra- 
diction devoid  of  all  embarrassment.  In  the 
passage  last  quoted  Buddha  is  speaking  of  the 
astral  personality,  while  the  immortality  recog- 
nized by  the  esoteric  doctrine  is  that  of  the 
spiritual  individuality.  The  explanation  has^ 
been  fully  given  in  the  chapter  on  Devachan, 
and  in  the  passages  quoted  there  from  Colonel 
Olcott's  "  Buddhist  Catechism."  It  is  only 
since  fragments  of  the  great  revelation  this  vol- 
ume contains  have  been  given  out  during  the 
last  two  years  in  the  ''  Theosophist "  that  the 
important  distinction  between  personality  and 
individuality,  as  applied  to  the  question  of  hu- 
man immortality,  has  settled  into  an  intelligible 
shape,  but  there  are  plentiful  allusions  in  former 
occult  writing,  which  may  now  be  appealed  to 
in  proof  of  the  fact  that  former  writers  were 
fully  alive  to  the  doctrine  itself.  Turning  to  the 
most  recent  of  the  occult  books,  in  which  the 
veil  of  obscurity  was  still  left  to  wrap  the  doc- 
trine from  careless  observation,  though  it  was 
strained  in  many  places  almost  to  transparency, 


292  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

we  might  take  any  one  of  a  dozen  passages  to 
illustrate  the  point  before  us.     Here  is  one  ;  — 

"  The  philosophers  who  explained  the  fall 
into  generation  their  own  way  viewed  spirit  as 
something  wholly  distinct  from  the  soul.  They 
allowed  its  presence  in  the  astral  capsule  only 
so  far  as  the  spiritual  emanations  or  rays  of  the 
'  shining  one  '  were  concerned.  Man  and  soul 
had  to  conquer  their  immortality  by  ascending 
toward  tlie  unity,  with  which,  if  successful, 
they  were  finally  linked,  and  into  which  they 
were  absorbed,  so  to  say.  The  individualiza- 
tion of  man  after  death  depended  on  the  spirit, 
not  on  his  body  and  soul.  Although  the  w^ord 
*  personality,'  in  tlie  sense  in  which  it  is  usually 
understood,  is  an  absurdity  if  applied  literally 
to  our  immortal  essence,  still  the  latter  is  a  dis- 
tinct entity,  immortal  and  eternal  2?er  se ;  and 
as  in  the  case  of  criminals  bej^ond  redemption, 
when  the  shining  thread  which  links  the  spirit 
to  the  soul  from  the  moment  of  the  birth  of  a 
child  is  violently  snapped,  and  the  disembodied 
entit}^  is  left  to  share  the  fate  of  the  lower  ani- 
mals, to  dissolve  into  ether  and  have  its  indi- 
viduality annihilated,  —  even  then  the  spirit 
remains  a  distinct  being."  ^ 

No  one  can  read  this  — scarcely  any  part,  in- 
deed, of  the  chapter  from  which  it  is  taken  — 

1  Isis  Unveiled,  vol.  i.  p.  315. 


THE  DOCTRINE  REVIEWED.  293 

without  perceiving,  by  the  light  of  the  expla- 
nations given  in  the  present  volume,  that  the 
esoteric  doctrine  now  fully  given  out  was  per- 
fectly familiar  to  the  writer,  though  I  have  been 
privileged  to  put  it  for  the  first  time  into  plain 
and  unmistakable  language. 

It  takes  some  mental  effort  to  realize  the 
difference  between  personality  and  individual- 
ity, but  the  craving  for  the  continuity  of  per- 
sonal existence,  for  the  full  recollection  always 
of  those  transitory  circumstances  of  our  present 
physical  life  which  make  up  the  personality, 
is  manifestly  no  more  than  a  passing  weakness 
of  the  flesh.  For  many  people  it  will  perhaps 
remain  irrational  to  say  that  any  person  now 
living,  with  his  recollections  bounded  by  the 
years  of  his  childhood,  is  the  same  individual  as 
some  one  of  quite  a  different  nationality  and 
epoch  who  lived  thousands  of  years  ago,  or  the 
same  that  will  reappear  after  a  similar  lapse  of 
time  under  some  entirely  new  conditions  in  the 
future.  But  the  feeling  "  I  am  I"  is  the  same 
through  the  three  lives  and  through  all  the 
hundreds;  for  that  feeling  is  more  deeply  seated 
than  the  feeling  *'  I  am  John  Smith,  so  high,  so 
heav}^  with  such  and  such  property  and  rela- 
tions." Is  it  inconceivable,  as  a  notion  in  the 
mind,  that  John  Smith,  mheriting  the  gift  of 
Tithonus,  changing  his  name  from  time  to  time, 


n 


294  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

marrying  afresh  every  other  generation  or  so, 
losing  property  here,  coming  into  possession  of 
property  there,  and  getting  interested  as  time 
went  on  in  a  great  variety  of  different  pursuits, 
—  is  it  inconceivable  that  such  a  person  in  a 
few  thousand  years  should  forget  all  circum- 
stances connected  with  the  present  life  of  John 
Smith,  just  as  if  the  incidents  of  that  life  for 
him  had  never  taken  place  ?  And  yet  the  Ego 
would  be  the  same.  If  this  is  conceivable  in 
the  imagination,  what  can  be  inconceivable  in 
the  individual  continuity  of  an  intermittent  Hfe, 
interrupted  and  renewed  at  regular  intervals, 
and  varied  with  passages  through  a  purer  con- 
V_     dition  of  existence. 

No  less  than  it  clears  up  the  apparent  con- 
flict between  the  identity  of  successive  individ- 
ualities and  the  ''  heresy  "  of  individuality  will 
the  esoteric  doctrine  be  seen  to  put  the  "  in- 
comprehensible mystery  of  Karma,  which  jNIr. 
Rhys  Davids  disposes  of  so  summarily,  on  a 
perfectly  intelligible  and  scientific  basis.  Of 
this  he  says  that  because  Buddhism  "  does  not 
acknowledge  a  soul "  it  has  to  resort  to  the  des- 
perate expedient  of  a  mystery  to  bridge  over 
the  gulf  between  one  life  and  another  some- 
where else,  —  the  doctrine,  namely,  of  Karma. 
And  he  condemns  the  idea  as  "  a  non-exist- 
ent fiction  of  the  brain."     Irritated  as  he  feela 


THE  DOCTRINE  REVIEWED.  295 

with  what  he  regards  as  the  absurdity  of  the 
doctrine,  he  j^et  applies  patience  and  great  men- 
tal ingenuity  in  the  effort  to  evolve  something 
that  shall  feel  like  a  rational  metaphysical  con- 
ception out  of  the  tangled  utterances  concern- 
ing Karma  of  the  Buddhist  scriptures.  He 
writes :  — 

"Karma,  from  a  Buddhist  point  of  view, 
avoids  the  superstitious  extreme,  on  the  one 
hand,  of  those  who  believe  in  the  separate  ex- 
istence of  some  entity  called  the  soul ;  and  the 
irreligious  extreme,  on  the  other,  of  those  who 
do  not  believe  in  moral  justice  and  retribu- 
tion. Buddhism  claims  to  have  looked  through 
the  word  soul  for  the  fact  it  purports  to  cover, 
and  to  have  found  no  fact  at  all,  but  only  one 
or  other  of  twenty  different  delusions  which 
blind  the  eyes  of  men.  Nevertheless,  Buddhism 
is  convinced  tliat  if  a  man  reaps  sorrow,  dis- 
appointment, pain,  he  himself,  and  no  other, 
must  at  some  time  have  sown  folly,  error,  sin ; 
and  if  not  in  this  life,  then  in  some  former 
birth.  Where,  then,  in  the  latter  case,  is  the 
identity  between  him  who  sows  and  him  who 
reaps  ?  In  that  which  alone  remains  when  a 
man  dies,  and  the  constituent  parts  of  the  sen- 
tient being  are  dissolved,  in  the  result,  namely, 
of  his  action,  speech,  and  thought,  in  his  good 
or  evil  Karma  (literally  his  doing),  which  does 


296  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

not  die.  We  are  familiar  with  the  doctrine, 
*  Whatever  a  man  soweth  that  shall  he  also 
reap,'  and  can  therefore  enter  into  the  Bud- 
dhist feeling  that  whatever  a  man  reaps  that  he 
must  also  have  sown  ;  we  are  familiar  with  the 
doctrine  of  the  indestructibility  of  force,  and 
can  therefore  understand  the  Buddhist  dogma 
(however  it  may  contravene  our  Christian  no- 
tions) that  no  exterior  power  can  destroy  the 
fruit  of  a  man's  deeds,  that  they  must  work  out 
their  full  effect  to  the  pleasant  or  the  bitter  end. 
But  the  peculiarity  of  Buddhism  lies  in  this : 
that  the  result  of  what  a  man  is  or  does  is  held 
not  to  be  dissipated,  as  it  were,  into  many  sepa- 
rate streams,  but  to  be  concentrated  together  in 
the  formation  of  one  new  sentient  being,  —  new, 
that  is,  in  its  constituent  parts  and  powers,  but 
the  same  in  its  essence,  its  being,  its  doing,  its 
Karma." 

Nothing  could  be  more  ingenious  as  an  at- 
tempt to  invent  for  Buddhism  an  explanation 
of  its  "  mystery  "  on  the  assumption  that  the 
authors  of  the  mystery  threw  it  up  originally 
as  a  "  desperate  expedient "  to  cover  their  re- 
treat from  an  untenable  position.  But  in  re- 
ality the  doctrine  of  Karma  has  a  far  simpler 
history  and  does  not  need  so  subtle  an  interpre- 
tation. Like  many  other  phenomena  of  Nature 
having  to  do  with  futurity,  it  was  declared  by 


THE  DOCTRINE  REVIEWED.  297 

Buddha  an  incomprehensible  mystery,  and  ques- 
tions concerning  it  were  thus  put  aside;  but 
he  did  not  mean  that  because  it  was  incompre- 
hensible for  the  populace  it  was  incomprehen- 
sible, or  any  mystery  at  all,  for  the  initiates 
in  the  esoteric  doctrine.  It  was  impossible  to 
explain  it  without  reference  to  the  esoteric 
doctrine ;  but  the  outlines  of  that  science  once 
grasped,  Karma,  like  so  much  else,  becomes  a 
comparatively  simple  matter, — a  mystery  only 
in  the  sense  in  which  also  the  affinity  of  sul- 
phuric acid  for  copper  and  its  superior  affinity 
for  iron  are  also  mysteries.  Certainly  esoteric 
science  for  its  "  lay  chelas  "  at  all  events,  like 
chemical  science  for  its  lay  chelas,  —  all  stu- 
dents, that  is  to  say,  of  its  mere  physical  phe- 
nomena, —  leaves  some  mysteries  unfathomed  in 
the  background,  i  am  not  prepared  to  explain 
by  what  precise  molecular  changes  the  higher 
affinities  which  constitute  Karma  are  stored  up 
in  the  permanent  elements  of  the  fifth  principle. 
But  no  more  is  ordinary  science  qualified  to  say 
what  it  is  in  a  molecule  of  oxygen  which  in- 
duces it  to  desert  the  molecule  of  hydrogen 
with  which  it  was  in  alliance  in  the  raindrop, 
and  attach  itself  to  a  molecule  of  the  iron  of  a 
railing  on  which  it  falls.  But  the  speck  of 
rust  is  engendered,  and  a  scientific  explanation 
of  that  occurrence  is  held  to  have  been  given 


298  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

when  its  affinities  are  ascertained  and  appealed 
to. 

So  with  Karma,  the  fifth  principle  takes  up 
the  affinities  of  its  good  and  evil  deeds  in  its 
passage  through  life,  passes  with  them  into 
Devachan,  where  those  which  are  suitable  to 
the  atmosphere,  so  to  speak,  of  that  state,  fruc- 
tify and  blossom  in  prodigious  abundance,  and 
then  passes  on,  with  such  as  have  not  yet  ex- 
hausted their  energy,  into  the  objective  world 
once  more.  And  as  certainly  as  the  molecule 
of  oxygen  brought  into  the  presence  of  a 
hundred  other  molecules  will  fly  to  that  with 
which  it  has  the  most  affinity,  so  will  the 
Karma-laden  spiritual  monad  fly  to  that  incar- 
nation with  which  its  mysterious  attractions 
link  it.  Nor  is  there  in  that  process  any  crea- 
tion of  a  new  sentient  being,  except  in  the 
sense  that  the  new  bodily  structure  evolved  is 
a  new  instrument  of  sensation.  That  which  in- 
habits it,  that  which  feels  joy  or  sorrow,  is  the 
old  Ego, — walled  off  by  forgetfulness  from  its 
last  set  of  adventures  on  earth,  it  is  true,  but 
reaping  their  fruit  nevertheless,  —  the  same  ''  I 
am  I "  as  before. 

"  Strange  it  is,"  Mr.  Rhys  Davids  thinks, 
that  "all  this"  —  the  explanation  of  Buddhist 
philosophy  which  esoteric  materials  have  ena- 
bled him  to  give- — "should  have  seemed  not 


THE  DOCTRINE  REVIEWED.  299 

unattractive,  these  2,300  years  and  more,  to 
many  despairing  and  earnest  hearts ;  that  they 
should  have  trusted  themselves  to  the  so  seem- 
ing stately  bridge  which  Buddhism  has  tried  to 
build  over  the  river  of  the  mysteries  and  sor- 
rows of  life.  .  .  .  They  have  failed  to  see  that 
the  very  keystone  itself,  the  link  between  one 
life  and  another,  is  a  mere  word,  —  this  won- 
derful hypothesis,  this  airy  nothing,  this  im- 
aginary cause  beyond  the  reach  of  reason,  — 
the  individualized  and  individualizing  grace 
of  Karma." 

It  would  have  been  strange  indeed  if  Bud- 
dhism had  been  built  on  such  a  frail  foundation; 
but  its  apparent  frailty  has  been  simply  due  to 
the  fact  that  its  mighty  fabric  of  knowledge 
has  hitherto  been  veiled  from  view.  Now  that 
the  inner  doctrine  has  been  unveiled  it  will  be 
seen  how  little  it  depends  for  any  item  of  its 
belief  on  shadowy  subtleties  of  metaphysics. 
So  far  as  these  have  clustered  round  Buddhism 
they  have  merely  been  constructed  by  external 
interpreters  of  stray  doctrinal  hints  that  could 
not  be  entirely  left  out  of  the  simple  system  of 
morals  prescribed  for  the  populace. 

In  that  which  really  constitutes  Buddhism 
we  find  a  sublime  simplicity,  like  that  of  Na- 
ture herself,  —  one  law  running  into  infinite 
ramifications ;  complexities  of  detail,  it  is  true, 


800  ESOTERIC  BUDDHISM. 

as  Nature  herself  is  infinitely  complex  in  her 
manifestations,  however  unchangeably  uniform 
in  her  purposes,  but  always  the  immutable  doc- 
trine of  causes  and  their  effects,  which  in  turn 
become  causes  again  in  an  endless  cyclic  pro- 
gression. 


APPENDIX. 


NOTE  TO   CHAPTER  I. 

The  further  we  advance  in  occult  study,  the  more  ex- 
alted in  many  ways  become  our  conceptions  of  the  Ma- 
hatmas.  The  complete  comprehension  of  the  manner  in 
which  these  persons  become  differentiated  from  human- 
kind at  large,  is  not  to  be  achieved  by  the  help  of  mere 
intellectual  effort.  There  are  aspects  of  the  adept  nature 
which  have  to  do  with  the  extraordinary  development  of 
the  higher  principles  in  man,  which  cannot  be  realized  by 
the  application  of  the  lower.  But  while  crude  concep- 
tions in  the  beginning  thus  fall  very  short  of  reaching  the 
real  level  of  the  facts,  a  curious  complication  of  the  prob- 
lem arises  in  this  way.  Our  first  idea  of  an  adept  who 
has  achieved  the  power  of  penetrating  the  tremendous 
secrets  of  spiritual  nature,  is  modelled  on  our  conception 
of  a  very  highly  gifted  man  of  science  on  our  own  plane. 
We  are  apt  to  think  of  him  as  once  an  adept  always  an 
adept,  —  as  a  very  exalted  human  being,  who  must  neces- 
sarily bring  into  play  in  all  the  relations  of  his  life  the 
attributes  that  attach  to  him  as  a  Mahatma.  In  this  way, 
while  —  as  above  pointed  out  —  we  shall  certainly  fail,  do 
all  we  can,  to  do  justice  in  our  thoughts  to  his  attributes 
as  a  Mahatma,  we  may  very  easily  run  to  the  opposite 
extreme  in  our  thinking  about  him  in  his  ordinary  human 


302  APPENDIX. 

aspect,  and  thus  land  ourselves  in  many  perplexities,  as 
we  acquire  a  partial  familiarity  with  the  characteristics  of 
the  occult  world.  It  is  just  because  the  highest  attributes 
of  adeptship  have  to  do  with  principles  in  human  nature 
which  quite  transcend  the  limits  of  physical  existence, 
that  the  adept  of  ]\Iahatma  can  only  be  such  in  the  high- 
est acceptation  of  the  word,  when  he  is,  as  the  phrase 
goes,  "out  of  the  body,"  or  at  all  events  thrown  by  spe- 
cial efforts  of  his  will  into  an  abnormal  condition.  When 
he  is  not  called  upon  to  make  such  efforts  or  to  pass  en- 
tirely beyond  the  limitations  of  this  fleshly  prison,  he  is 
much  more  like  an  ordinary  man  than  experience  of 
him  in  some  of  his  aspects  would  lead  his  disciples  to 
believe. 

A  correct  appreciation  of  this  state  of  things  explains 
the  apparent  contradiction  involved  in  the  position  of  the 
occult  pupil  towards  his  masters,  as  compared  with  some 
of  the  declarations  that  the  master  himself  will  frequently 
put  forward.  For  example,  the  Mahatmas  are  persistent 
in  asserting  that  they  are  not  infallible,  that  they  are 
men,  like  the  rest  of  us,  perhaps  with  a  somewhat  more 
enlarged  comprehension  of  nature  than  the  generality  of 
mankind,  but  still  liable  to  err  both  in  the  direction  of 
practical  business  with  which  they  may  be  concerned,  and 
in  their  estimate  of  the  cliaracters  of  other  men,  or  the 
capacity  of  candidates  for  occult  development.  But  how 
are  we  to  reconcile  statements  of  this  nature  with  the 
fundamental  principle  at  the  bottom  of  all  occult  research 
which  enjoins  the  neophyte  to  put  his  trust  in  the  teaching 
and  guidance  of  his  master  absolutely  and  without  re- 
serve ?  The  solution  of  the  difficulty  is  found  in  the  state 
of  things  above  referred  to.  AVhile  the  adept  may  be  a 
man  quite  surprisingly  liable  to  err  sometimes  in  the  ma- 
nipulation of  worldly  business,  just  as  with  ourselves  some 


APPENDIX.  303 

of  the  greatest  men  of  genius  are  liable  to  make  mis- 
takes in  their  daily  life  that  matter-of-fact  people  could 
never  commit,  on  the  other  hand,  directly  a  Mahatma 
comes  to  deal  with  the  higher  mysteries  of  spiritual  sci- 
ence, he  does  so  by  virtue  of  the  exercise  of  his  Mahatma- 
attributes,  and  in  dealing  with  these  can  hardly  be  recog- 
nized as  liable  to  err. 

This  consideration  enables  us  to  feel  that  the  trust- 
worthiness of  the  teachings  derived  from  such  a  source 
as  those  which  have  inspired  the  present  volume,  is  alto- 
gether above  the  reach  of  small  incidents  which  in  the 
progress  of  our  experience  may  seem  to  claim  a  revision 
of  that  enthusiastic  confidence  in  the  supreme  wisdom  of 
the  adepts  which  the  first  approaches  to  occult  study  will 
generally  evoke. 

Not  that  such  enthusiasm  or  reverence  will  really  be 
diminished  on  the  part  of  any  occult  chela  as  his  compre- 
hension of  the  world  he  is  entering  expands.  The  man 
who  in  one  of  his  aspects  is  a  Mahatma,  may  rather  be 
brouglit  within  the  limits  of  affectionate  human  regard, 
than  deprived  of  his  claims  to  reverence,  by  the  consid- 
eration that  in  his  ordinary  life  he  is  not  so  utterly  lifted 
above  the  commonplace  run  of  human  feeling  as  some 
of  his  Nirvanic  experiences  might  lead  us  to  believe  that 
he  would  be. 

If  we  keep  constantly  in  mind  that  an  adept  is  only 
truly  an  adept  when  exercising  adept  functions,  but  that 
when  exercising  these  he  may  soar  into  spiritual  rapport 
with  that  which  is,  in  regard  at  all  events  to  the  limita- 
tions of  our  solar  system,  all  that  we  practically  mean 
by  omniscience,  we  shall  then  be  guarded  from  many  of 
the  mistakes  that  the  embarrassments  of  the  subject 
might  create. 

Intricacies  concerning  the  nature  of  the  adept  may  be 


304  APPENDIX, 

noticed  here,  which  will  hardly  be  quite  intelligible  with- 
out reference  to  some  later  chapters  of  this  book,  but 
which  have  so  important  a  bearing  on  all  attempts  to  un- 
derstand what  adeptship  is  really  like  that  it  may  be  con- 
venient to  deal  with  them  at  once.  The  dual  nature  of 
the  Mahatma  is  so  complete  that  some  of  his  influence  or 
wisdom  on  the  higher  planes  of  nature  may  actually  be 
drawn  upon  by  those  in  peculiar  psj^chic  relations  with 
him,  without  the  Manhatma-man  being  at  the  moment 
even  conscious  that  such  an  appeal  has  been  made  to  him. 
In  this  way  it  becomes  open  to  us  to  speculate  on  the 
possibility  that  the  relation  between  the  spiritual  Ma- 
hatma and  the  Mahatma-man  may  sometimes  be  rather 
in  the  nature  of  what  is  sometimes  spoken  of  in  esoteric 
writing  as  an  overshadowing  than  as  an  incarnation  in  the 
complete  sense  of  the  word. 

Furthermore  as  another  independent  complication  of 
the  matter  we  reach  this  fact,  that  each  Mahatma  is  not 
merely  a  human  Ego  in  a  very  exalted  state,  but  belongs, 
so  to  speak,  to  some  specific  department  in  the  great  econ- 
omy of  nature.  Every  adept  must  belong  to  one  or  other 
of  seven  great  types  of  adeptship  ;  but  although  we  may 
almost  certainly  infer  that  correspondences  might  be 
traced  between  these  various  types  and  the  seven  princi- 
ples of  man,  I  should  shrink  myself  from  attempting  a 
complete  elucidation  of  this  hypothesis.  It  will  be  enough 
to  apply  the  idea  to  what  we  know  vaguely  of  the  occult 
organization  in  its  higher  regions.  For  some  time  past  it 
has  been  affirmed  in  esoteric  writing  that  there  are  five 
great  Chohans  or  superior  Mahatmas  presiding  over  the 
whole  body  of  the  adept  fraternity.  When  the  foregoing 
chapter  of  this  book  was  written,  I  was  under  the  impres- 
sion that  one  supreme  chief  on  a  different  level  again 
exercised  authority  over  these  five  Chohans,  but  it  now 


APPENDIX.  305 

appears  to  me  that  this  personage  may  rather  be  regarded 
as  a  sixth  Chohan,  himself  the  head  of  the  sixth  type  of 
Mahatmas,  and  this  conjecture  leads  at  once  to  the  fur- 
ther inference  that  there  nmst  be  a  seventh  Chohan  to 
complete  the  correspondences  which  we  thus  discern.  But 
just  as  the  seventh  principle  in  nature  Or  in  man  is  a  con- 
ception of  the  most  intangible  order,  eluding  the  grasp  of 
any  intellectual  thinking,  and  only  describable  in  shadowy 
phrases  of  metaphysical  non-significance,  so  we  may  be 
quite  sure  that  the  seventh  Chohan  is  very  unapproach- 
able by  untrained  imaginations.  But  even  he  no  doubt 
plays  a  part  in  what  may  be  called  the  higher  economy 
of  spiritual  nature,  and  that  there  is  such  a  personage  vis- 
ible occasionally  to  some  of  the  other  Mahatmas  I  take  to 
be  the  case.  But  speculation  concerning  him  is  valuable 
chiefly  as  helping  to  give  consistency  to  the  idea  above 
thrown  out,  according  to  which  the  Mahatmas  may  be 
comprehended  in  their  true  aspect  as  necessary  phe- 
nomena of  nature  without  whom  the  evolution  of  hu- 
manity could  hardly  be  imagined  as  advancing,  not  as 
merely  exceptional  men  who  have  attained  great  spiritual 
exaltation. 


NOTE  TO  CHAPTER  II. 

Some  objection  has  been  raised  to  the  method  in  which 
the  Esoteric  Doctrine  is  presented  to  the  reader  in  this 
book,  on  the  ground  that  it  is  materialistic.  I  doubt  if  in 
any  other  way  the  ideas  to  be  dealt  with  could  so  well  be 
brought  within  the  grasp  of  the  mind,  but  it  is  easy,  when 
they  once  are  grasped,  to  translate  them  into  terms  of 
idealism.  The  higher  principles  will  be  the  better  suscep- 
20 


306  APPENDIX. 

tible  of  treatment  as  so  many  different  states  of  the  Ego, 
when  the  attributes  of  these  states  have  been  separately 
considered  as  principles  undergoing  evolution.  But  it 
may  be  useful  to  dwell  for  a  while  on  the  view  of  the  hu- 
man constitution  according  to  which  the  consciousness  of 
the  entity  migrates  successively  through  the  stages  of  de- 
velopment, which  the  different  principles  represent. 

In  the  highest  evolution  we  need  concern  ourselves  with 
at  present  —  that  of  the  perfected  Mahatma  —  it  is  some- 
times asserted  in  occult  teaching  that  the  consciousness  of 
the  Ego  has  acquired  the  power  of  residing  altogether  in 
the  sixth  principle.  But  it  would  be  a  gross  view  of  the 
subject,  and  erroneous,  to  suppose  that  the  Mahatma  has 
on  that  account  shaken  off  altogether,  like  a  discarded 
sheath  or  sheaths,  the  fourth  and  fifth  principles,  in  which 
his  consciousness  may  have  been  seated  during  an  ear- 
lier stage  of  his  evolution.  The  entity  which  was  the 
fourth  or  fifth  principle  before,  has  come  now  to  be  dif- 
ferent in  its  attributes,  and  to  be  entirely  divorced  from 
certain  tendencies  or  dispositions,  and  is  therefore  a  sixth 
principle.  The  change  can  be  spoken  of  in  more  general 
terms  as  an  emancipation  of  the  adept's  nature  from  the 
enthralments  of  his  lower  self,  from  desires  of  the  ordi- 
nary earth-life  —  even  from  the  limitations  of  the  affec- 
tions ;  for  the  Ego,  which  is  entirely  conscious  in  his  sixth 
principle,  has  realized  the  unity  of  the  true  Egos  of  all 
mankind  on  the  higher  plane,  and  can  no  longer  be  drawn 
b}'^  bonds  of  sympathy  to  any  one  more  than  to  any  other. 
He  has  attained  that  love  of  humanity  as  a  whole  which 
transcends  the  love  of  the  Maya  or  illusion  which  consti- 
tutes the  separate  human  creature  for  the  limited  being 
on  the  lower  levels  of  evolution.  He  has  not  lost  his 
fourth  and  fifth  principles,  —  these  have  themselves  at- 
tained Mahatmaship  ;  just  as  the  animal  soul  of  the  lower 


APPENDIX.  307 

kingdom,  in  reaching  humanity,  has  blossomed  into  the 
fifth  state.  That  consideration  helps  us  to  realize  more 
accurately  the  passage  of  ordinary  human  beings  through 
the  long  series  of  incarnations  of  the  human  plane.  Once 
fairly  on  that  plane  of  existence,  the  consciousness  of  the 
primitive  man  gradually  envelops  the  attributes  of  the 
fifth  principle.  But  the  Ego  at  first  remains  a  centre  of 
thought-activity  working  chiefly  with  impulses  and  desires 
of  the  fourth  stage  of  evolution.  Flashes  of  the  higher 
human  reason  illumine  it  fitfully  at  first,  but  by  degrees 
the  more  intellectual  man  grows  into  the  fuller  possession 
of  this.  The  impulses  of  human  reason  assert  themselves 
more  and  more  strongly.  The  invigorated  mind  becomes 
the  predominant  force  in  the  life.  Consciousness  is  trans- 
ferred to  the  fifth  principle,  oscillating,  however,  between 
the  tendencies  of  the  lower  and  higher  nature  for  a  long 
while,  —  that  is  to  say,  over  vast  periods  of  evolution  and 
many  hundred  lives,  —  and  thus  gradually  purifying  and 
exalting  the  Ego.  All  this  while  the  Ego  is  thus  a  unity 
in  one  aspect  of  the  matter,  and  its  sixth  principle  but  a 
potentiality  of  ultimate  development.  As  regards  the 
seventh  principle,  that  is  the  true  Unknowable,  the  su- 
preme controlling  cause  of  all  things,  which  is  the  same 
for  one  man  as  for  every  man,  the  same  for  humanity  as 
for  the  animal  kingdom,  the  same  for  the  physical  as  for 
the  astral  or  devachanic  or  nirvanic  planes  of  existence  : 
no  one  man  has  got  a  seventh  principle,  in  the  higher 
conception  of  the  subject  ;  we  are  all  in  the  same  un- 
fathomable way  overshadowed  by  tJie  seventh  principle  of 
the  cosmos. 

How  does  this  view  of  the  subject  harmonize  with  the 
statement  in  the  foregoing  chapter,  that  in  a  certain  sense 
the  principles  are  separable,  and  that  the  sixth  even  can 
be  imagined  as  divorcing  itself  from  its  next  lower  neigh- 


308  APPENDIX. 

bor,  and,  by  relncaruation,  as  growing  a  new  fifth  prin- 
ciple by  contact  with  a  human  organism  ?  There  is  no 
incompatibility  in  the  spirit  of  the  two  views.  The  sev- 
enth principle  is  one  and  indivisible  in  all  Nature,  but 
there  is  a  mysterious  persistence  through  it  of  certain  life- 
impulses,  which  thus  constitute  threads  on  which  succes- 
sive existences  may  be  strung.  Such  a  life-impulse  does 
not  expire  even  in  the  extraordinary  case  supposed,  in 
which  an  Ego,  projected  upon  it  and  developed  along  it 
up  to  a  certain  point,  falls  away  from  it  altogether  and  as 
a  complete  whole.  I  am  not  in  a  position  to  dogmatize 
with  precision  as  to  what  happens  in  such  a  case,  but  the 
subsequent  incarnations  of  the  spirit  along  that  line  of 
impulse  are  clearly  of  the  original  sequence  ;  and  thus,  in 
the  materialistic  treatment  of  the  idea,  it  may  be  said, 
with  as  much  approach  to  accuracy  as  language  will  allow 
in  either  mode,  that  the  sixth  principle  of  the  fallen  entity 
in  such  a  case  separates  itself  from  the  original  fifth,  and 
reincarnates  on  its  own  account. 

But  with  these  abnormal  processes  it  is  unnecessary  to 
occupy  ourselves  to  any  great  extent.  The  normal  evo- 
lution is  the  problem  we  have  first  to  solve  ;  and  while 
the  consideration  of  the  seven  principles  as  such  is,  to  my 
own  mind,  the  most  instructive  method  by  which  the  prob- 
lem can  be  dealt  with,  it  is  well  to  remember  always  that 
the  Ego  is  a  unity  progressing  through  various  spheres  or 
states  of  being,  undergoing  change  and  growth  and  purifi- 
cation all  through  the  course  of  its  evolution,  —  that  it  is 
a  consciousness  seated  in  this,  or  that,  or  the  other,  of  the 
potential  attributes  of  a  human  entity. 


APPENDIX,  309 


NOTE  TO   CHAPTER  III. 

An  expression  occurs  in  this  chapter  which  does  not 
recommend  itself  to  the  somewhat  fuller  conceptions  I 
have  heen  able  to  form  of  the  subject  since  this  book  was 
written.  It  is  stated  that  "  the  spiritual  monads  —  the 
individual  atoms  of  that  immense  life-impulse  of  which 
so  much  has  been  said  —  do  not  fully  complete  their  min- 
eral existence  on  globe  A,  then  complete  it  on  globe  B, 
and  so  on.  They  pass  several  times  round  the  whole  cir- 
cle as  minerals,  and  then  again  several  times  round  as 
vegetables,  &c."  Now  it  is  intelligible  to  me  that  I  was 
permitted  to  use  this  form  of  expression  in  the  first  in- 
stance because  the  main  purpose  in  view  was  to  elucidate 
the  way  in  which  the  human  entity  was  gradually  evolved 
from  processes  of  Nature  going  on  in  the  first  instance 
in  lower  kingdoms.  But  in  truth  at  a  later  stage  of  the 
inquiry  it  becomes  manifest  that  the  vast  process  of  which 
the  evolution  of  humanity  and  all  which  that  leads  up  to 
is  the  crowning  act,  the  descent  of  spirit  into  matter,  does 
not  bring  about  a  differentiation  of  individualities  until  a 
much  later  stage  than  is  contemplated  in  the  passage  just 
quoted.  In  the  mineral  worlds  on  which  the  higher  forms 
of  plant  and  animal  life  have  not  yet  been  established, 
t-here  is  no  such  thing,  as  yet,  as  an  individual  spiritual 
monad,  unless  indeed  by  virtue  of  some  inconceivable 
unity  —  inconceivable,  but  subject  to  treatment  as  a  the- 
ory none  the  less  —  in  the  life-impulses  which  are  destined 
to  give  rise  to  the  later  chains  of  highly  organized  exist- 
ence. Just  as  in  a  preceding  note  we  assumed  the  unity 
of  such  a  life-impulse  in  the  case  of  a  perverted  human 
Ego  falling  away  as  a  whole  from  the  current  of  evolu- 
tion on  which  it  was  launched,  so  we  may  assume  the  same 


310  APPENDIX. 

unity  backwards  to  the  earliest  beginnings  of  the  plane- 
tary chain.  But  this  can  be  no  more  than  a  protective 
hypothesis,  reserving  us  the  right  to  investigate  some  mys- 
teries later  on  that  we  need  not  go  into  at  present.  For 
a  general  appreciation  of  the  subject  it  is  better  to  regard 
the  first  infusion,  as  it  were,  of  spirit  into  matter  as  pro- 
voking a  homogeneous  manifestation.  The  specific  forms 
of  the  mineral  kingdom,  the  crystals  and  differentiated 
rocks,  are  but  bubbles  in  the  seething  mass  assuming  par- 
tially individualized  forms  for  a  time,  and  rushing  again 
into  the  general  substance  of  the  growing  cosmos,  not  yet 
true  individualities.  Nor  even  in  the  vegetable  kingdom 
does  individuality  set  in.  The  vegetable  establishes  or- 
ganic matter  in  physical  manifestation,  and  prepares  the 
way  for  the  higher  evolution  of  the  animal  kingdom.  In 
this,  for  the  first  time,  but  only  in  the  higher  regions  of 
this,  is  true  individuality  evoked.  Therefore  it  is  not  till 
we  begin  in  imagination  to  contemplate  the  passage  of  the 
great  life-impulse  round  the  planetary  chain  on  the  level 
of  animal  incarnation,  that  it  would  be  strictly  justifiable 
to  speak  of  the  spiritual  monads  as  travelling  round  the 
circle  as  a  plurality,  to  which  the  word  "  they "  would 
properly  apply. 

It  is  evidently  not  with  the  intention  of  encouraging 
any  close  study  of  evolution  on  the  very  grand  scale  with 
which  we  are  dealing  here,  that  the  adept  authors  of  the 
doctrine  set  forth  in  this  volume  have  opened  the  subject 
of  the  planetary  chain.  As  far  as  humanity  is  concerned, 
the  period  during  which  this  earth  will  be  occupied  by  our 
race  is  more  than  long  enough  to  absorb  all  our  specula- 
tive energy.  The  magnitude  of  the  evolutionary  process 
to  be  accomplished  during  that  period  is  more  than  enough 
to  tax  to  the  utmost  the  capacities  of  an  ordinary  imagi- 
nation.    But  it  is  extremely  advantageous  for  students  of 


APPENDIX.  811 

the  occult  doctrine  to  realize  the  plurality  of  worlds  in 
our  system  once  for  all  —  their  intimate  relations  with, 
their  interdependence  on  each  other  —  before  concentrat- 
ing attention  on  the  evolution  of  this  single  planet.  For 
in  many  respects  the  evolution  of  a  single  planet  follows 
a  routine,  as  it  will  be  found  directly,  that  bears  an  ana- 
logical resemblance  to  the  routine  affecting  the  entire  se- 
ries of  planets  to  which  it  belongs.  The  older  writings 
on  occult  science,  of  the  obscurely  worded  order,  some- 
times refer  to  successive  states  of  one  world,  as  if  suc- 
cessive worlds  were  meant,  and  vice  versa.  Confusion 
thus  arises  in  the  reader's  mind,  and  according  to  the  bent 
of  his  own  inclination  he  clings  to  various  interpretations 
of  the  misty  language.  The  obscurity  disappears  when 
we  realize  that  in  the  actual  facts  of  Nature  we  have  to 
recognize  loth  courses  of  change.  Each  planet,  while  in- 
habited by  humanity,  goes  through  metamorphoses  of  a 
highly  important  and  impressive  character,  the  effect  of 
which  may  in  each  case  be  almost  regarded  as  equivalent 
to  the  reconstitution  of  the  world.  But  none  the  less,  if 
the  whole  group  of  such  changes  is  treated  as  a  unity, 
does  it  form  one  of  a  higher  series  of  changes.  The  sev- 
eral worlds  of  the  chain  are  objective  realities,  and  not 
symbols  of  change  in  one  single,  variable  world.  Further 
remarks  on  this  head  will  fall  into  their  place  more  nat- 
urally at  the  close  of  a  later  chapter. 


NOTE  TO   CHAPTERS  V.,  VI. 

There  is  no  part  of  the  present  volume  which  I  now 
regard  as  in  so  much  urgent  need  of  amplification  as  chap- 


312  APPENDIX. 

ters  V.  and  YI.  The  Kama  loca  stage  of  existence,  and 
that  higher  region  or  state  of  Devachan,  to  which  it  is  but 
the  antechamber,  were,  designedly  I  take  it,  left  by  our 
teachers  in  the  first  instance  in  partial  obscurity,  in  order 
that  the  whole  scheme  of  evolution  might  be  the  better 
understood.  The  spiritual  state  which  immediately  fol- 
lows our  present  physical  life  is  a  department  of  Nature, 
the  study  of  which  is  almost  unhealthily  attractive  for 
every  one  who  once  realizes  that  some  contact  with  it  — 
some  processes  of  experiment  with  its  conditions  —  are  pos- 
sible even  during  this  life.  Already  we  can  to  a  certain  ex- 
tent discern  the  phenomena  of  that  state  of  existence  into 
which  a  human  creature  passes  at  the  death  of  the  body. 
The  experience  of  spiritualism  has  supplied  us  with  facts 
concerning  it  in  very  great  abundance.  These  facts  are 
but  too  highly  suggestive  of  theories  and  inferences  which 
seem  to  reach  the  ultimate  limits  of  speculation,  and  noth- 
ing but  the  bracing  mental  discipline  of  esoteric  study  in 
its  broadest  aspect  will  protect  any  mind  addressed  to  the 
consideration  of  these  facts  from  conclusions  which  that 
st\idy  shows  to  be  necessarily  erroneous.  For  this  reason, 
theosophical  inquirers  have  nothing  to  regret  as  far  as 
their  own  progress  in  spiritual  science  is  at  stake,  in  the 
circumstances  which  have  hitherto  induced  them  to  be 
rather  neglectful  of  the  problems  that  have  to  do  with 
the  state  of  existence  next  following  our  own.  It  is  im- 
possible to  exaggerate  the  intellectual  advantages  to  be 
derived  from  studying  the  broad  design  of  Nature  through- 
out those  vast  realms  of  the  future  which  only  the  perfect 
clairvoyance  of  the  adepts  can  penetrate,  before  going 
into  details  regarding  that  spiritual  foreground,  which  is 
partially  accessible  to  less  powerful  vision,  but  liable,  on 
a  first  acquaintance,  to  be  mistaken  for  the  whole  expanse 
of  the  future. 


APPENDIX.  813 

The  earlier  processes,  however,  through  which  the  soul 
passes  at  death,  may  be  described  at  this  date  somewhat 
more  fully  than  they  are  defined  in  the  foregoing  chapter. 
The  nature  of  the  struggle  that  takes  place  in  Kama  loca 
between  the  upper  and  lower  duads  may  now,  I  believe, 
be  apprehended  more  clearly  than  at  first.  That  struggle 
appears  to  be  a  very  protracted  and  variegated  process, 
and  to  constitute,  —  not,  as  some  of  us  may  have  conjec- 
tured at  first,  an  automatic  or  unconscious  assertion  of 
affinities  or  forces  quite  ready  to  determine  the  future  of 
the  spiritual  monad  at  the  period  of  death,  —  but  a  phase 
of  existence  which  may  be,  and  in  the  vast  majority  of 
cases  is  more  than  likely  to  be,  continued  over  a  consider- 
able series  of  years.  And  during  this  phase  of  existence 
it  is  quite  possible  for  departed  human  entities  to  mani- 
fest themselves  to  still  living  persons  through  the  agency 
of  spiritual  mediumship,  in  a  way  which  may  go  far  to- 
wards accounting  for,  if  it  does  not  altogether  vindicate, 
the  impressions  that  spiritualists  derive  from  such  com- 
munications. 

But  we  must  not  conclude  too  hastily  that  the  human 
soul  going  through  the  struggle  or  evolution  of  Kama  loca 
is  in  all  respects  what  the  first  glance  at  the  position,  as 
thus  defined,  may  seem  to  suggest.  First  of  all,  we  must 
beware  of  too  grossly  materializing  our  conception  of  the 
struggle,  by  thinking  of  it  as  a  mechanical  separation  of 
principles.  There  is  a  mechanical  separation  involved  in 
the  discard  of  lower  principles  when  the  consciousness  of 
the  Ego  is  firmly  seated  in  the  higher.  Thus  at  death 
the  body  is  mechanically  discarded  by  the  soul,  which  in 
union,  perhaps  (with  intermediate  principles),  may  act- 
ually be  seen  by  some  clairvoyants  of  a  high  order  to 
quit  the  tenement  it  no  longer  needs.  And  a  very  sim- 
ilar process  may  ultimately  take  place  in  Kama  loca  it- 


314  APPENDIX. 

self,  in  regard  to  the  matter  of  the  astral  principles.  But 
postponing  this  consideration  for  a  few  moments,  it  is  im- 
portant to  avoid  supposing  that  the  struggle  of  Kama  loca 
does  itself  constitute  this  ultimate  division  of  principles, 
or  second  death  upon  the  astral  plane. 

The  struggle  of  Kama  loca  is  in  fact  the  life  of  the  en- 
tity in  that  phase  of  existence.  As  quite  correctly  stated 
in  the  text  of  the  foregoing  chapter,  the  evolution  taking 
place  during  that  phase  of  existence  is  not  concerned  with 
the  responsible  choice  between  good  and  evil  which  goes 
on  during  physical  life.  Kama  loca  is  a  portion  of  the 
great  world  of  effects,  —  not  a  sphere  in  which  causes  are 
generated  (except  under  peculiar  circumstances).  The 
Kama  loca  entity,  therefore,  is  not  truly  master  of  his 
own  acts  ;  he  is  rather  the  sport  of  his  own  already  estab- 
lished affinities.  But  these  are  all  the  while  asserting 
themselves,  or  exhausting  themselves,  hy  degrees,  and  the 
Kama  loca  entity  has  an  existence  of  vivid  consciousness 
of  one  sort  or  another  the  whole  time.  Now  a  moment's 
reflection  will  show  that  those  affinities,  which  are  gath- 
ering strength  and  asserting  themselves,  have  to  do  with 
the  spiritual  aspirations  of  the  life  last  experienced,  while 
those  which  are  exhausting  themselves  have  to  do  with 
its  material  tastes,  emotions,  and  proclivities.  The  Kama 
loca  entity,  be  it  remembered,  is  on  his  way  to  Devachan, 
or,  in  other  words,  is  growing  into  that  state  which  is  the 
Devachanic  state,  and  the  process  of  growth  is  accom- 
plished by  action  and  reaction,  by  ebb  and  flow,  like  al- 
most every  other  in  Nature,  —  by  a  species  of  oscillation 
between  the  conflicting  attractions  of  matter  and  spirit. 
Thus  the  Ego  advances  towards  Heaven,  so  to  speak,  or 
recedes  towards  earth,  during  his  Kama  loca  existence, 
and  it  is  just  this  tendency  to  oscillate  between  the  two 
poles  of  thought  or  condition  that  brings  him  back  occa- 
gionally  within  the  sphere  of  the  life  he  has  just  quitted. 


APPENDIX.  315 

It  is  not  by  any  means  at  once  that  his  ardent  sympa- 
thies with  that  life  arc  dissipated.  His  sympathies  with 
the  higher  aspects  of  that  life,  be  it  remembered,  are  not 
even  on  their  way  to  dissipation.  For  instance,  in  what  is 
here  referred  to  as  earthly  affinity,  we  need  not  include  the 
exercise  of  affection,  which  is  a  function  of  Devachanic 
existence  in  a  preeminent  degree.  But  perhaps  even  in 
regard  to  his  affections  there  may  be  earthly  and  spiritual 
aspects  of  these,  and  the  contemplation  of  them,  with  the 
circumstances  and  surroundings  of  the  earth-life,  may 
often  have  to  do  with  the  recession  towards  earth-life  of 
the  Kama  loca  entity  referred  to  above. 

Of  course  it  will  be  apparent  at  once  that  the  inter- 
course which  the  practice  of  spirituaKsm  sets  up  between 
such  Kama-loca  entities  as  are  here  in  view,  and  the 
friends  they  have  left  on  earth,  must  go  on  during  those 
periods  of  the  soul's  existence  in  which  earth  memories 
engage  its  attention  ;  and  there  are  two  considerations 
of  a  very  important  nature  which  arise  out  of  this  re- 
flection. 

1st.  While  its  attention  is  thus  directed,  it  is  turned 
away  from  the  spiritual  progress  on  which  it  is  engaged 
during  its  oscillations  in  the  other  direction.  It  may  fairly 
well  remember,  and  in  conversation  refer  to,  the  spiritual 
aspirations  of  the  life  on  earth,  but  its  new  spiritual  ex- 
periences appear  to  be  of  an  order  that  cannot  be  trans- 
lated back  into  terms  of  the  ordinary  physical  intellect, 
and,  besides  that,  to  be  not  within  the  command  of  the 
faculties  which  are  in  operation  in  the  soul  during  its  oc- 
cupation with  old-earth  memories.  The  position  might  be 
roughly  symbolized,  but  only  to  a  very  imperfect  extent, 
by  the  case  of  a  poor  emigrant,  whom  we  may  imagine 
prospering  in  his  new  country,  getting  educated  there, 
concerning  himself  with  its  public  affairs  and  discoveries, 


316  APPENDIX. 

philanthropy,  and  so  on.  He  may  keep  up  an  interchange 
of  letters  with  his  relations  at  home,  but  he  will  find  it 
difficult  to  keep  them  au  courant  with  all  that  has  come  to 
be  occupying  his  thoughts.  The  illustration  will  only  fully 
apply  to  our  present  purpose,  however,  if  we  think  of  the 
emigrant  as  subject  to  a  psychological  law  which  draws  a 
veil  over  his  understanding  when  he  sits  down  to  write  to 
his  former  friends,  and  restores  him  during  that  time  to 
his  former  mental  condition.  He  would  then  be  less  and 
less  able  to  write  about  the  old  topics  as  time  went  on,  for 
they  would  not  only  be  below  the  level  of  those  to  the  con- 
sideration of  which  his  real  mental  activities  had  risen, 
but  would  to  a  great  extent  have  faded  from  his  memory. 
His  letters  would  be  a  source  of  surprise  to  their  recip- 
ients, who  would  say  to  themselves  that  it  was  certainly 
so-and-so  who  was  writing,  but  that  he  had  grown  very 
dull  and  stupid  compared  to  what  he  used  to  be  before  he 
went  abroad. 

2dly.  It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  a  very  well-known 
law  of  physiology,  according  to  which  faculties  are  invig- 
orated by  use  and  atrophied  by  neglect,  applies  on  the  as- 
tral as  well  as  on  the  physical  plane.  The  soul  in  Kama- 
loca,  which  acquires  the  habit  of  fixing  its  attention  on 
the  memories  of  the  life  it  has  quitted,  will  strengthen 
and  harden  those  tendencies  which  are  at  war  with  its 
higher  impulses.  The  more  frequently  it  is  appealed  to 
by  the  affection  of  friends  still  in  the  body  to  avail  itself 
of  the  opportunities  furnished  by  mediumship  for  mani- 
festing its  existence  on  the  physical  plane,  the  more  vehe- 
ment will  be  the  impulses  which  draw  it  back  to  physical 
life,  and  the  more  serious  the  retardation  of  its  spiritual 
progress.  This  consideration  appears  to  involve  the  most 
influential  motive  which  leads  the  representatives  of  The- 
osophical  teaching  to  discountenance  and  disapprove  of 


APPENDIX.  317 

all  attempts  to  hold  communication  with  departed  souls 
by  means  of  the  spiritual  seance.  The  more  such  com- 
munications are  genuine  the  more  detrimental  they  are  to 
the  inhabitants  of  Kama  loca  concerned  with  them.  In 
the  present  state  of  our  knowledge  it  is  difficult  to  deter- 
mine with  confidence  the  extent  to  which  the  Kama  loca 
entities  are  thus  injured.  And  we  may  be  tempted  to  be- 
lieve that  in  some  cases  the  great  satisfaction  derived  by 
the  living  persons  who  communicate,  may  outweigh  the 
injury  so  inflicted  on  the  departed  soul.  This  satisfac- 
tion, however,  will  only  be  keen  in  proportion  to  the  fail- 
ure of  the  still  livhig  friend  to  realize  the  circumstances 
under  which  the  communication  takes  place.  At  first,  it 
is  true,  very  shortly  after  death,  the  still  vivid  and  com- 
plete memories  of  earth-life  may  enable  the  Kama  loca 
entity  to  manifest  himself  as  a  personage  very  fairly  like 
his  deceased  self,  but  from  the  moment  of  death  the 
change  in  the  direction  of  his  evolution  sets  in.  He  will, 
as  manifesting  on  the  physical  plane,  betray  no  fresh  fer- 
mentation of  thought  m  his  mind.  He  will  never,  in  that 
manifestation,  be  any  wiser,  or  higher  in  the  scale  of  Na- 
ture, than  he  was  when  he  died  ;  on  the  contrary,  he  must 
become  less  and  less  intelligent,  and  apparently  less  in- 
structed than  formerly,  as  time  goes  on.  He  will  never 
do  himself  justice  in  communication  with  the  friends  left 
behind,  and  his  failure  in  this  respect  will  grow  more  and 
more  painful  by  degrees. 

Yet  another  consideration  operates  to  throw  a  very 
doubtful  light  on  the  wisdom  or  propriety  of  gratifying  a 
desire  for  intercourse  with  deceased  friends.  We  may 
say,  never  mind  the  gradually  fading  interest  of  the  friend 
who  has  gone  before,  in  the  earth  left  behind  ;  while  there 
is  anything  of  his  or  her  old  self  left  to  manifest  itself  to 
us,  it  will  be  a  delight  to  communicate  even  with  that. 


318  APPENDIX. 

And  we  may  argue  that  if  the  beloved  person  is  delayed 
a  little  on  his  way  to  Heaven  by  talking  with  us,  he  or  she 
would  be  willing  to  make  that  sacrifice  for  our  sake.  The 
point  overlooked  here  is,  that  on  the  astral,  just  as  on  the 
physical  plane,  it  is  a  very  easy  thing  to  set  up  a  bad 
habit.  The  soul  in  Kama  loca  once  slaking  a  thirst  for 
earthly  intercourse  at  the  wells  of  mediumship  will  have 
a  strong  impulse  to  fall  back  again  and  again  on  that  in- 
dulgence. We  may  be  doing  a  great  deal  more  than  di- 
verting the  soul's  attention  from  its  own  proper  business 
by  holding  spiritualistic  relations  with  it.  We  may  be 
doing  it  serious  and  almost  permanent  injury.  1  am  not 
affirming  that  this  would  invariably  or  generally  be  the 
case,  but  a  severe  view  of  the  ethics  of  the  subject  must 
recognize  the  dangerous  possibilities  involved  in  the  course 
of  action  under  review.  On  the  other  hand,  however,  it 
is  plain  that  cases  may  arise  in  which  the  desire  for  com- 
munication chiefly  asserts  itself  from  the  other  side  :  that 
is  to  say,  in  which  the  departed  soid  is  laden  with  some 
unsatisfied  desire  —  pointing  possibly  towards  the  fulfil- 
ment of  some  neglected  duty  on  earth  —  the  attention  to 
which,  on  the  part  of  sUll  living  friends,  may  have  an  ef- 
fect quite  the  reverse  of  that  attending  the  mere  encour- 
agement of  the  Kama  loca  entity  in  the  resumption  of  its 
old  earthly  interests.  In  such  cases  the  living  friends 
may,  by  falling  in  with  its  desire  to  communicate,  be  the 
means,  indirectly,  of  smoothing  the  path  of  the  spiritual 
progress.  Here  again,  however,  we  must  be  on  our  guard 
against  the  delusive  aspect  of  appearances.  A  wish  man- 
ifested by  an  inhabitant  of  Kama  loca  may  not  always  be 
the  expression  of  an  idea  then  operative  in  his  mind.  It 
may  be  the  echo  of  an  old,  perhaps  of  a  very  old,  desire, 
then  for  the  first  time  finding  a  channel  for  its  outward 
expression.     In  this  way,  although  it  would  be  reasonable 


APPENDIX.  319 

to  treat  as  important  an  intelligible  wish  conveyed  to  us 
from  Kama  loca  by  a  person  only  lately  deceased,  it  would 
be  prudent  to  regard  with  great  suspicion  such  a  wish  ema- 
nating from  the  shade  of  a  person  who  had  been  dead  a 
long  time,  and  whose  general  demeanor  as  a  shade  did  not 
seem  to  convey  the  notion  that  he  retained  any  vivid  con- 
sciousness of  his  old  personality. 

The  recognition  of  all  these  facts  and  possibilities  of 
Kama  loca  will,  I  think,  afford  theosophists  a  satisfactory 
explanation  of  a  good  many  experiences  connected  with 
spiritualism  which  the  first  exposition  of  the  Esoteric  Doc- 
trine, as  bearing  on  this  matter,  left  in  much  obscurity. 

It  will  be  readily  perceived  that  as  the  soul  slowly 
clears  itself  in  Kama  loca  of  the  affinities  which  retard 
its  Devachanic  development,  the  aspect  it  turns  towards 
the  earth  is  more  and  more  enfeebled,  and  it  is  inevitable 
that  there  must  always  be  in  Kama  loca  an  enormous 
number  of  entities  nearly  ripe  for  a  complete  mergence  in 
Devachan,  who  on  that  very  account  appear  to  an  earthly 
observer  in  a  state  of  advanced  decrepitude.  These  will 
have  sunk,  as  regards  the  activity  of  their  lower  astral 
principles,  into  the  condition  of  the  altogether  vague  and 
unintelligible  entities,  which,  following  the  example  of 
older  occult  writers,  I  have  referred  to  as  '*  shells  "  in  the 
text  of  this  chapter.  The  designation,  however,  is  not 
altogether  a  happy  one.  It  might  have  been  better  to 
have  followed  another  precedent,  and  to  have  called  them 
"shades,"  but  either  way  their  condition  would  be  the 
same.  All  the  vivid  consciousness  inhering,  as  they  left 
the  earth,  in  the  principles  appropriately  related  to  the 
activities  of  physical  life,  has  been  transferred  to  the 
higher  principles  which  do  not  manifest  at  stances.  Their 
memory  of  earth-life  has  almost  become  extinct.  Their 
lower  principles  are  in  such  cases  only  reawakened  by  the 


320  APPENDIX. 

influences  of  the  mediumistic  current  into  which  they  may 
be  drawn,  and  they  become  then  little  more  than  astral 
looking-glasses,  in  which  the  thoughts  of  the  medium  or 
sitters  at  the  stance  are  reflected.  If  we  can  imagine  the 
colors  on  a  painted  canvas  sinking  by  degrees  into  the 
substance  of  the  material,  and  at  last  reemerging  in  their 
pristine  brilliancy  on  the  other  side,  we  shall  be  conceiv- 
ing a  process  which  might  not  have  destroyed  the  picture, 
but  which  would  leave  a  gallery  in  which  it  took  place  a 
dreary  scene  of  brown  and  meaningless  backs,  and  that  is 
very  much  what  the  Kama  loca  entities  become  before 
they  ultimately  shed  the  very  material  on  which  their  first 
astral  consciousness  operated,  and  pass  into  the  wholly 
purified  Devachanic  condition. 

But  this  is  not  the  whole  of  the  story  which  teaches  us 
to  regard  manifestations  coming  from  Kama  loca  with  dis- 
trust. Our  present  comprehension  of  the  subject  enables 
us  to  realize  that  when  the  time  arrives  for  that  second 
death  on  the  astral  plane,  which  releases  the  purified  Ego 
from  Kama  loca  altogether  and  sends  it  onward  to  the 
Devachanic  state  —  something  is  left  behind  in  Kama 
loca  which  corresponds  to  the  dead  body  bequeathed  to 
the  earth  when  the  soul  takes  its  first  flight  from  physical 
existence.  A  dead  astral  body  is  in  fact  left  behind  in 
Kama  loca,  and  there  is  certainly  no  impropriety  in  ap- 
plying the  epithet  "  shell "  to  that  residuum.  The  true 
shell  in  that  state  disintegrates  in  Kama  loca  before  very 
long,  just  as  the  true  body  left  to  the  legitimate  processes 
of  Nature  on  earth  would  soon  decay  and  blend  its  ele- 
ments with  the  general  reservoirs  of  matter  of  the  order 
to  which  they  belong.  But  until  that  disintegration  is  ac- 
complished, the  shell  which  the  real  Ego  has  altogether 
abandoned  may  even  in  that  state  be  mistaken  sometimes 
at  spiritual  seances  for  a  living  entity.     It  remains  for  a 


APPENDIX.  321 

time  an  astral  looking-glass,  in  which  mediums  may  see 
their  own  thoughts  reflected,  and  take  these  back,  fully 
believing  them  to  come  from  an  external  source.  These 
phenomena  in  the  truest  sense  of  the  term  are  galvanized 
astral  corpses  ;  none  the  less  so,  because  until  they  are 
actually  disintegrated  a  certain  subtle  connection  will  sub- 
sist between  them  and  the  true  Devachanic  spirit ;  just 
as  such  a  subtle  communication  subsists  in  the  first  in- 
stance between  the  Kama  loca  entity  and  the  dead  body 
left  on  earth.  That  last  -  mentioned  communication  is 
kept  up  by  the  finally-diffused  material  of  the  original 
third  prmciple,  or  linga  sharira,  and  a  study  of  this  branch 
of  the  subject  will,  I  believe,  lead  us  up  to  a  better  com- 
prehension than  we  possess  at  present  of  the  circum- 
stances under  which  materializations  are  sometimes  ac- 
complished at  spiritual  seances.  But  without  going  into 
that  digression  now,  it  is  enough  to  recognize  that  the 
analogy  may  help  to  show  how,  between  the  Devachanic 
entity  and  the  discarded  shell  in  Kama  loca  a  similar  con- 
nection may  continue  for  a  while,  acting,  while  it  lasts,  as 
a  drag  on  the  higher  spirit,  but  perhaps  as  an  after-glow 
of  sunset  on  the  shell.  It  would  surely  be  distressing, 
however,  in  the  highest  degree,  to  any  living  friend  of  the 
person  concerned,  to  get,  through  clairvoyance,  or  in  any 
other  way,  sight  or  cognition  of  such  a  shell,  and  to  be  led 
into  mistaking  it  for  the  true  entity. 

The  comparatively  clear  view  of  Kama  loca  which  we 
are  now  enabled  to  take,  may  help  us  to  employ  terms  re- 
lating to  its  phenomena  with  more  precision  than  we  have 
hitherto  been  able  to  attain.  I  think  if  we  adopt  one  new 
expression,  "  astral  soul,"  as  applying  to  the  entities  in 
Kama  loca  who  have  recently  quitted  earth-life,  or  who 
for  other  reasons  still  retain,  in  the  aspect  they  turn  back 
towards  earth,  a  large  share  of  the  intellectual  attributes 
21 


322  APPENDIX. 

that  distinguished  them  on  earth,  we  shall  then  find  the 
other  terms  in  use  already,  adequate  to  meet  our  remain- 
ing emergencies.  Indeed,  we  may  then  get  rid  entirely 
of  the  inconvenient  term  "  elementary,"  liable  to  be  con- 
fused with  elemental,  and  singularly  inappropriate  to  the 
beings  it  describes.  I  would  suggest  that  the  astral  soul 
as  it  sinks  (regarded  from  our  point  of  view)  into  intel- 
lectual decrepitude,  should  be  spoken  of  in  its  faded  con- 
dition as  a  shade,  and  that  the  term  shell  should  be  re- 
served for  the  true  shells  or  astral  dead  bodies  which  the 
Devachanic  spirit  has  finally  quitted. 

We  are  naturally  led  in  studying  the  law  of  spiritual 
growth  in  Kama  loca  to  inquire  how  long  a  time  may 
probably  elapse  before  the  transfer  of  consciousness  from 
the  lower  to  the  higher  principles  of  the  astral  soul  may 
be  regarded  as  complete  ;  and  as  usual,  when  we  come  to 
figures  relating  to  the  higher  processes  of  Nature,  the  an- 
swer is  very  elastic.  But  I  believe  the  esoteric  teachers 
of  the  East  declare  that  as  regards  the  average  run  of 
humanity  —  for  what  may  be  called,  in  a  spiritual  sense, 
the  great  middle  classes  of  humanity  —  it  is  unusual  that 
a  Kama  loca  entity  will  be  in  a  position  to  manifest  as  such 
for  more  than  twenty-five  to  thirty  years.  But  on  each 
side  of  this  average  the  figures  may  run  up  very  consid- 
erably. That  is  to  say,  a  very  ignoble  and  besotted  hu- 
man creature  may  hang  about  in  Kama  loca  for  a  much 
longer  time  for  want  of  any  higher  principles  sufficiently 
developed  to  take  up  his  consciousness  at  all,  and  at  the 
other  end  of  the  scale  the  very  intellectual  and  mentally- 
active  soul  may  remain  for  very  long  periods  in  Kama  loca 
(in  the  absence  of  spiritual  affinities  in  corresponding 
force),  by  reason  of  the  great  persistence  of  forces  and 
causes  generated  on  the  higher  plane  of  effects,  though 
mental  activity  could  hardly  be  divorced  in  this  way  from 


APPENDIX.  323 

spirituality  except  In  cases  where  it  was  exclusively  asso- 
ciated with  worldly  ambition.  Again,  while  Kama  loca 
periods  may  thus  be  prolonged  beyond  the  average  from 
various  causes,  they  may  sink  to  almost  inJfinitesimal  brev- 
ity when  the  spirituality  of  a  person  dying  at  a  ripe  old 
age,  and  at  the  close  of  a  life  which  has  legitimately  ful- 
filled its  purpose,  is  already  far  advanced. 

There  is  one  other  important  possibility  connected  with 
manifestations  reaching  us  by  the  usual  channels  of  com- 
munication with  Kama  loca,  which  it  is  desirable  to  notice 
here,  although  from  its  nature  the  realization  of  such  a 
possibility  cannot  be  frequent.  No  recent  students  of 
theosophy  can  expect  to  know  as  yet  very  much  about  the 
conditions  of  existence  which  await  adepts  who  relinquisli 
the  use  of  physical  bodies  on  earth.  The  higher  possi- 
bilities open  to  them  appear  to  me  quite  beyond  the 
reach  of  intellectual  appreciation.  Xo  man  is  clever 
enough,  by  virtue  of  the  mere  cleverness  seated  in  a  liv- 
ing brain,  to  understand  Nirvana  ;  but  it  would  appear 
that  adepts  in  some  cases  elect  to  pursue  a  course  lying 
midway  between  re-incarnation  and  the  passage  into  Nir- 
vana, and  in  the  higher  regions  of  Devaehan  ;  that  is  to 
say,  in  the  arupa  state  of  Devaehan  may  await  the  slow 
advance  of  human  evolution  towards  the  exalted  condi- 
tion they  have  thus  attained.  Now  an  adept  who  had 
thus  become  a  Devachanic  spirit  of  the  most  elevated  type 
would  not  be  cut  off  by  the  conditions  of  his  Devachanic 
state  —  as  would  be  the  case  with  a  natural  Devachanic 
spirit  passing  through  that  state  on  his  way  to  re-incarna- 
tion —  from  manifesting  his  influence  on  earth.  His 
would  certainly  not  be  an  influence  which  would  make 
itself  felt  by  the  instrumentality  of  any  physical  signs  to 
mixed  audiences,  but  it  is  not  impossible  that  a  medium 
of  the  highest  type  —  who  would  more  properly  be  called 


824  APPENDIX. 

a  seer  —  might  be  thus  influenced.  By  such  an  Adept 
spirit,  some  great  men  in  the  world's  history  may  from 
time  to  time  have  been  overshadowed  and  inspired,  con- 
sciously or  unconsciously  as  the  case  may  have  been. 

The  disintegration  of  shells  in  Kama  loca  will  inevi- 
tably suggest  to  any  one  who  endeavors  to  comprehend 
the  process  at  all,  that  there  must  be  in  Nature  some 
general  reservoirs  of  the  matter  appropriate  to  that  sphere 
of  existence,  corresponding  to  the  physical  earth  and  its 
surrounding  elements,  into  which  our  own  bodies  are 
resigned  at  death.  The  grand  mysteries  on  which  this 
consideration  impinges  will  claim  a  far  more  exhaustive 
investigation  than  we  have  yet  been  enabled  to  under- 
take; but  one  broad  idea  eomiected  with  them  may  use- 
fully be  put  forward  without  further  delay.  The  state 
of  Kama  loca  is  one  which  has  its  corresponding  orders 
of  matter  in  manifestation  round  it.  I  will  not  here  at- 
tempt to  go  into  the  metaphysics  of  the  problem,  which 
might  even  lead  us  to  discard  the  notion  that  astral  mat- 
ter need  be  any  less  real  and  tangible  than  that  which 
appeals  to  our  physical  senses.  It  is  enough  for  the 
present  to  explain  that  the  propinquity  of  Kama  loca  to 
the  earth,  which  is  so  readily  made  apparent  by  spirit- 
ualistic experience,  is  explained  by  Oriental  teaching  to 
arise  from  this  fact, — that  Kama  loca  is  just  as  much 
in  and  of  the  earth  as,  during  our  lives,  our  astral  soul  is 
in  and  of  the  living  man.  The  stage  of  Kama  loca,  in 
fact,  the  great  realm  of  matter  in  the  appropriate  state 
which  constitutes  Kama  loca  and  is  perceptible  to  the 
senses  of  astral  entities,  as  also  to  those  of  many  clair- 
voyants, is  the  fourth  principle  of  the  earth,  just  as  the 
Kama-rupa  is  the  fourth  principle  of  man.  For  the  earth 
has  its  seven  principles  like  the  human  creatures  who  in- 
habit it.     Thus,  the  Devachanic  state  corresponds  to  the 


APPENDIX.  325 

fifth    principle  of   the  earth,  and   Nirvana  to  the  sixth 
principle. 


NOTE  TO  CHAPTER  VII. 

Later  information  and  study  —  the  comparison,  that  is 
to  say,  of  the  various  branches  of  the  doctrine,  and  the  coU 
location  of  other  statements  with  those  in  Chapter  VII  — 
show  the  difficulty  of  applying  figures  to  the  Esoteric  Doc- 
trines in  a  very  striking  light.  Figures  may  be  quite  trust- 
worthy as  representing  broad  averages,  and  yet  very 
misleading  when  applied  to  special  cases.  Devachanic 
periods  vary  for  different  people  within  such  very  wide 
limits  that  any  rule  laid  down  in  the  matter  must  be  sub- 
ject to  a  bewildering  cloud  of  exceptions.  To  begin  with, 
the  average  mentioned  above  has  no  doubt  been  computed 
with  reference  to  fully  matured  adults.  Between  the  quite 
young  child  who  has  no  Devachanic  period  at  all  and  the 
adult  who  accomplishes  an  average  period  we  have  to  take 
note  of  persons  dying  in  youth,  who  have  accumulated 
Karma,  and  who  must  therefore  pass  through  the  usual 
stages  of  spiritual  development,  but  for  whom  the  brief 
lives  they  have  spent  have  not  produced  causes  which  take 
very  long  to  work  themselves  out.  Such  persons  would 
return  to  incarnation  after  a  sojourn  in  the  world  of  effects 
of  corresponding  brevity.  Again  there  are  such  things  as 
artificial  incarnations  accomplished  by  the  direct  interven- 
tion of  the  Mahatmas  when  a  chela  who  may  not  yet  have 
acquired  anything  resembling  the  power  of  controlling  the 
matter  himself,  is  brought  back  into  incarnation  almost 
immediately  after  his  previous  physical  death,  without 
having  been  suffered  to  float  into  the  current  of  natural 


326  APPENDIX. 

causes  at  all.  Of  course  in  such  cases  it  may  be  said  that 
the  claims  the  person  concerned  has  established  on  the 
Mahatmas  are  themselves  natural  causes  of  a  kind,  the 
intervention  of  the  Mahatmas,  who  are  quite  beyond  the 
liability  of  acting  capriciously  in  such  a  matter,  being  so 
much  fruit  of  effort  in  the  preceding  life,  so  much  Karma. 
But  still  either  way  such  cases  would  be  equally  with- 
drawn from  the  operation  of  the  general  average  rule. 

Clearly  it  is  impossible  when  the  complicated  facts  of  an 
entirely  unfamiliar  science  are  being  presented  to  untrained 
mind  for  the  first  time,  to  put  them  forward  with  all 
their  appropriate  qualifications,  compensations  and  abnor- 
mal developments  visible  from  the  beginning.  We  must 
be  content  to  take  the  broad  rules  first  and  deal  with  the 
exceptions  afterwards,  and  especially  is  this  the  case  with 
occult  study,  in  connection  with  which  the  traditional 
methods  of  teaching,  generally  followed,  aim  at  impress- 
ing every  fresh  idea  on  the  memory,  by  provoking  the 
perplexity  it  at  last  relieves.  In  relation  to  another  mat- 
ter dealt  with  in  the  preceding  pages,  an  important  ex- 
ception in  Nature  has  thus,  it  seems  to  me  now,  been  left 
out  of  account.  The  description  I  have  given  of  the  prog- 
ress of  the  human  tide-wave  is  quite  coherent  as  it  stands, 
but  since  the  publication  of  the  original  edition  of  this 
book  some  criticism  was  directed,  in  India,  to  a  compari- 
son between  my  version  of  the  story  and  certain  passages 
in  other  writings,  known  to  emanate  from  a  ISIahatma. 
A  discrepancy  between  the  two  statements  was  pointed  out, 
the  other  version  assuming  the  possibility  that  a  monad 
actually  might  have  travelled  round  the  seven  planets  once 
more  often  than  the  compeers  among  whom  he  might 
ultimately  find  himself  on  this  earth.  My  account  of  the 
obscurations  appears  to  render  this  contingency  impossi- 
ble.    The  clue  to  the  mystery  appears  to  lie  outside  the 


APPENDIX.  327 

domain  of  those  facts  concerning  which  the  adepts  are 
willing  to  speak  freely;  and  the  reader  must  clearly  un- 
derstand that  the  explanation  I  am  about  to  offer  is  the 
fruit  of  my  own  speculation  and  comparison  of  different 
parts  of  the  doctrine  —  not  authentic  information  received 
from  the  author  of  my  general  teaching. 

The  fact  appears  to  be  that  the  obscurations  are  so  far 
complete  as  to  present  all  the  phenomena  above  described 
in  regard  to  each  planet  they  affect  as  a  whole.  But  ex- 
ceptional phenomena,  for  which  we  must  be  ever  on  the 
alert,  come  into  play  even  in  this  matter.  The  great 
bulk  of  humanity  is  driven  on  from  one  planet  to  the  next 
by  the  great  cyclic  impulse  when  its  time  comes  for  such  a 
transition,  but  the  planet  it  quits  is  not  utterly  denuded  of 
humanity,  nor  is  it,  in  every  region  of  its  surface  rendered, 
by  the  physical  and  climatic  changes  that  come  on,  unfit 
to  be  the  habitation  of  human  beings.  Even  during  ob- 
scuration a  small  colony  of  humanity  clings  to  each  planet, 
and  the  monads  associated  with  these  small  colonies  fol- 
lowing different  laws  of  evolution,  and  beyond  the  reach 
of  those  attractions  which  govern  the  main  vortex  of  hu- 
manity in  the  planet  occupied  by  the  great  tide-wave, 
pass  on  from  world  to  world  along  what  may  be  called 
the  inner  round  of  evolution,  far  ahead  of  the  race  at 
large.  What  may  be  the  circumstances  which  occasion- 
ally project  a  soul  even  from  the  midst  of  the  great  human 
vortex,  right  out  of  the  attraction  of  the  planet  occupied 
by  the  tide-wave,  and  into  the  attraction  of  the  Inner 
Round  —  is  a  question  that  can  only  be  a  subject  for  us 
at  present  of  very  uncertain  conjecture. 

It  may  be  worth  while  to  draw  attention,  in  connection 
with  the  solution  I  have  ventured  to  offer  as  applicable 
to  the  problem  of  the  Inner  Rounds,  to  the  way  in  which 
the  fact  of  Nature  I  assume  to  exist,  would  harmonize 


328  APPENDIX. 

with  the  widely  diffused  doctrines  of  the  Deluge.  That 
portion  of  a  planet  which  remained  habitable  during  an 
obscuration  would  be  equivalent  to  the  Noah's  Ark  of  the 
biblical  narrative  taken  in  its  largest  symbolical  meaning. 
Of  course  the  narrative  of  the  Deluge  has  minor  sym- 
bolical meanings  also,  but  it  does  not  appear  improbable 
that  the  Kabalists  should  also  have  associated  with  it  the 
larger  significance  now  suggested.  In  due  time  when  the 
obscured  planet  grew  ready  once  more  to  receive  a  full 
population  of  humanity,  the  colonists  of  the  ark  would 
be  ready  to  commence  the  process  of  populating  it  afresh. 


NOTE  TO  CHAPTER  VIII. 

The  condition  into  which  the  monads  failing  to  pass  the 
middle  of  the  fifth  round  must  fall  as  the  tide  of  evo- 
lution sweeps  on,  leaving  them  stranded,  so  to  speak, 
upon  the  shores  of  time,  is  not  described  very  fully  in  this 
chapter.  By  a  few  words  only  is  it  indicated  that  the 
failures  of  each  manwantara  are  not  absolutely  annihilated 
when  they  reach  "  the  end  of  their  tether,"  but  are  destined 
after  some  enormous  period  of  waiting  to  pass  once  more 
into  the  current  of  evolution.  Many  inferences  may  be 
deduced  from  this  condition  of  things.  The  period  of 
waiting  which  the  failures  have  thus  to  undergo,  is,  to 
begin  with,  a  duration  so  stupendous  as  to  baffle  the  im- 
agination. The  latter  half  of  the  fifth  round,  the  whole  of 
the  sixtli  and  seventh  have  to  be  performed  by  the  suc- 
cessful graduates  in  spirituality,  and  the  latter  rounds 
are  of  immensely  longer  duration  than  those  of  the  middle 
period.  Then  follows  the  vast  interval  of  Nirvanic  rest, 
which  closes   the  manwantara,  the  immeasurable   Night 


APPENDIX.  329 

of  Brahma,  the  Pralaya  of  the  whole  planetary  chain. 
Only  when  the  next  manwantara  begins  do  the  failures 
begin  to  wake  from  their  awful  trance  —  awful  to  the 
imagination  of  beings  in  the  full  activity  of  life,  though 
such  a  trance,  being  necessarily  all  but  destitute  of  con- 
sciousness, is  possibly  no  more  tedious  than  a  dreamless 
night  in  the  memory  of  a  profound  sleeper.  The  fate 
of  the  failures  may  be  grievous  first  of  all,  rather  on 
account  of  what  they  miss,  than  on  account  of  what  they 
incur.  Secondly,  however,  it  is  grievous  on  account  of 
that  to  which  it  leads,  for  all  the  trouble  of  physical  life 
and  almost  endless  incarnations  must  be  gone  through 
afresh,  when  the  failures  wake  up;  whereas  the  perfected 
beings,  who  outstripped  them  in  evolution  during  that 
fifth  round  in  which  they  became  failures,  will  have 
grown  into  the  god-like  perfection  of  Dhyan  Chohanhood 
during  their  trance,  and  will  be  the  presiding  geniuses  of 
the  next  manwantara,  not  its  helpless  subjects. 

Apart  altogether,  meanwhile,  from  what  may  be  regard- 
ed as  the  personal  interest  of  the  entities  concerned,  the 
existence  of  the  failures  in  Nature  at  the  beginning  of 
each  manwantara  is  a  fact  which  contributes  in  a  very 
important  degree  to  a  comprehension  of  the  evolutionary 
system.  When  the  planetary  chain  is  first  of  all  evolved 
out  of  chaos  —  if  we  may  use  such  an  expression  as  "  first 
of  all"  in  a  qualified  sense,  having  regard  to  the  reflec- 
tion that  ''in  the  beginning"  is  a  mere  fa(;on  de  parler 
applied  to  any  period  in  eternity  —  there  are  no  failures 
to  deal  with.  Then  the  descent  of  spirit  into  matter, 
through  the  elemental,  mineral,  and  other  kingdoms,  goes 
on  in  the  way  already  described  in  earlier  chapters  of 
this  book.  But  from  the  second  manwantara  of  a  planet- 
ary chain,  during  the  activity  of  the  solar  system,  which 
provides  for  many  such  manwantaras,  the  course  of  events 


330  APPENDIX. 

is  somewhat  different  —  easier,  if  I  may  again  be  allowed 
to  use  an  expression  that  is  applicable  rather  in  a  con- 
versational than  a  severely  scientific  sense.  At  any  rate 
it  is  quicker,  for  human  entities  are  already  in  existence, 
ready  to  enter  into  incarnation  as  the  world,  also  already 
in  existence,  can  be  got  ready  for  them.  The  truth  thus 
appears  to  be,  that  after  the  first  manwantara  of  a  series  — 
enormously  longer  in  duration  than  its  successors  —  no 
entities,  then  first  evolved  from  quite  the  lower  kingdoms, 
do  more  than  attain  the  threshold  of  humanity.  The  late 
failures  pass  first  into  incarnation,  and  then  eventually 
the  surviving  animal  entities  already  differentiated.  But, 
compared  with  the  passages  in  the  Esoteric  Doctrine 
which  affect  the  current  evolution  of  our  own  race,  these 
considerations,  relating  to  the  very  early  periods  of  world- 
evolution,  have  little  more  than  an  intellectual  interest, 
and  cannot  as  yet  by  any  contributions  of  mine  be  very 
greatly  amplified. 


IMPORTANT    RELIGIOUS    BOOKS 

Published  by 
HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN  &  COMPANY 

BOSTON  AND   NEW  YORK 

W^z  EiiJcnsiHe  Press,  Camfiritise 


Rev.  A.  V.  G.  Allen. 
Continuity  of  Christian  Thought.     A  Study  of  Mod- 
ern Theology  in  the  Light  of  its  History.     12mo,  gilt  top,  $2.00. 

The  Andover  Review. 

A  Religious  and  Theological  Review,  under  the  editorial 
control  of  Egbert  C.  Smyth,  William  J.  Tucker,  J.  W. 
Churchill,  George  Harris,  Edward  Y.  Hincks,  Professors  in 
Andover  Theological  Seminary,  and  with  the  cooperation  and  active 
support  of  all  their  colleagues  in  the  Faculty.  The  first  numher  of 
the  Review  appeared  in  January,  1884.  Published  monthly. 
Terms  $4.00  a  year;  single  copies,  35  cents.  Volumes  I.  to  IV., 
Svo,  each,  $2.50.  Volumes  V.  to  X.,  each,  $3.00 ;  covers  for  binding, 
50  cents  each. 

The  Andover  Review  Appendix. 

Critical  Appendix  to  the  Andover  Review,  Volume 
III.  Notes  on  Scrivener's  "  Plain  Introduction  to  the  Criticism  of 
the  New  Testament."  Third  Edition.  By  the  late  Prof.  Ezra  Ab- 
bot, Profs.  Harris  and  Warfield,  and  Dr.  C.  R.  Gregory.    8vo, 

paper  covers,  50  cents,  net. 

Editors  of  the  Andover  Review. 
Progressive  Orthodoxy.     A  Contribution  to  the  Chris- 
tian Interpretation  of  Christian  Doctrines.    By  the  Editors  of 
the  Andover  Review,  Professors  in  Andover  Theological  Semi- 
nary.    18mo,  $1.00. 

E.  E.  Beardsley,  D.  D. 

The  History  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  Connecti- 
cut.   Fourth  Edition.     2  vols.  Svo,  $6.00. 

Life  and  Correspondence  of  Samukl  Seabury,  D.  D., 
First  Bishop  of  Connecticut,  and  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  the 
United  States.     With  portrait.     Svo,  $400. 

Life  and  Correspondence  of  Samuel  Johnson,  D.  D., 
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Presi'lent  of  King's  College  in  New  York.  With  portrait.  Svo, 
$3.50. 


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The  Bible. 

Riverside  Parallel  Bible.  ContainiiAg  the  Authorized 
and  Kevised  Version  of  both  Old  and  New  Testaments  in  Parallel 
Columns.  With  Pieface,  Kefeyences,  Lists  of  Revisers,  and  Head- 
ings preferred  by  the  American  Revisers.  4to,  1742  pages,  $5.00; 
Persian,  $10.00;  morocco,  $15.00. 

John  Brown,  B.  A. 

John  Bunyan  :  His  Life,  Times,  and  Works.  With  Por- 
trait and  Illustrations,  etc.     8vo,  gilt  top,  $2.50. 

John  Bunyan. 

The  Pilgrim's  Progress.  The  Holy  War,  and 
Grace  Abounding.  Edited  by  Rev.  John  Brown,  author  of 
the  Life  of  Bunyan.     In  three  volumes,  each  $1.50. 

Phoebe  Gary. 
Poems   of    Faith,  Hope,  and    Love.     With   Portrait. 

12mo,  $1.50;  morocco,  $5.00. 

William  EUery  Channing. 

Dr.  Channing's  Note-Book.  Passages  from  the  Un- 
published Manuscripts  of  William  Ellery  Channing.  Selected  by 
his  Granddaughter,  Grace  Ellery  Channing.  16mo,  gilt  top, 
$1.00. 

Francis  J.  Child. 

Poems  of  Religious  Sorrow,  Comfort,  Counsel,  and 
Aspiration.  Collected  and  edited  by  Francis  J.  Child,  Profes- 
sor in  Harvard  University.     New  Edition.     16mo,  $1.25. 

Lydia  Maria  Child. 
Looking  Towards  Sunset.    A  book  for  those  who  are 

approaching  the  evening  of  Life.     12rao,  full  gilt,  $2.50;  half  calf, 
$4.00 ;  levant,  $5.00. 

James  Freeman  Clarke,  D.  D. 

Ten  Great  Religions.  Part  L  An  Essay  in  Compara- 
tive Theology.  With  an  Index.  Crown  8vo,  gilt  top,  $2.00;  half 
calf,  $3.25. 

Ten  Great  Religions.  Part  H.  A  Comparison  of  all 
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Common-Sense  in  Religion.   A  Series  of  Essays.    12mo, 

$2.00. 

Benjamin  B.  Comegys. 

Thirteen  Weeks  of  Prayers  for  the  Family.  Com- 
piled from  many  sources.     12mo,  flexible  roan,  $1.25. 


/ 


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Joseph  Cook. 

Biology.    With  Preludes  on  Current  Events.    Nineteenth 

Edition,     3  colored  illustrations. 
Transcendentalism.    With  Preludes  on  Current  Events. 
Orthodoxy.     With  Preludes  on  Current  Events. 
Conscience.     With  Preludes  on  Current  Events. 
Heredity.     With  Preludes  on  Current  Events. 
Marriage.     With  Preludes  on  Current  Events. 
Labor.     With  Preludes  on  Current  Events. 
Socialism.     With  Preludes  on  Current  Events. 
Occident.     With  Preludes  on  Current  Events. 
Orient.     With  Preludes  on  Current  Events.     Portrait. 

Each  volume,  12mo,  $1.50;  the  set,  10  vols.,  $15.00. 
Current  Religious  Perils.    With  Preludes,  etc.    8vo, 

$2.00. 

Mr.  Cook  did  not  take  up  the  work  he  has  accomplished  as  a  trade, 
or  by  accident,  or  from  impulse ;  but  for  years  he  had  been  preparing 
for  it,  and  prepared  for  it  by  an  overruling  guidance. —  James  Mc- 
CosH,  D.  D. 

Rev.  M.  Creighton. 

History  of  the  Papacy  during  the  Period  of  the 
Reformation.  Vol.  I.  The  Great  Schism  —  The  Council  of 
Constance,  1378-1418.  Vol.  H.  The  Council  of  Basel  — The 
Papal  Restoration,  1418-1464.  2  vols.  8vo,  $10.00.  Vols.  III.  and 
IV.  The  Italian  Princes,  1464-1518.  With  Appendices  and  In- 
dex.    2  vols.  8vo,  $7.50. 

Thomas  De  Quincey. 
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The  Dhammapada. 

Texts  from  the  Buddhist  Canon,  commonly  known  as 
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College,  London.     8vo,  gilt  top,  $2.50. 

Professor  J.  L.  Diman. 

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Orations  and  Essays,  with  Selected  Parish  Sermons. 

A  Memorial  Volume,  with  a  portrait.     Crown  Svo,  gilt  top,  $2.50, 

See  Caroline  Hazard. 


4  Religious  Publications  of 

Joseph  Edkins,  D.  D. 

Chinese  Buddhism.  A  volume  of  Sketches,  Historical, 
Descriptive,  and  Critical.     8vo,  gilt  top,  $4.50. 

George  E.  Ellis,  D.  D. 

The  Puritan  Age  and  Rule  in  the  Colony  of  the 
Massachusetts  Bat,  1629-1685.     1  vol.  8vo,  $3.50. 

Ludwig  Feuerbach. 

The  Essence  of  Christianity.  Translated  from  the 
Second  German  Edition  by  Marian  Evans  (George  Eliot).  870, 
gilt  top,  $3.00. 

John  Fiske. 

The  Destiny  of  Man,  viewed  in  the  Light  of  his 
Origin.     16mo,  $1.00. 

The  Unseen  World,  and  other  Essays.    12mo,  $2.00. 

The  Idea  of  God  as  affected  by  Modern  Knowl- 
edge.   A  Sequel  to  "  The  Destiny  of  Man."     16mo,  $1.00. 

Octavius  Brooks  Frothingham. 

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scendentalism in  New  England,"  etc.  With  a  fine  portrait.  Crown 
8vo,  gilt  top,  $2.00. 

William  H.  Furness,  D.  D. 
Verses  ;  Translations  and  Hymns.    16mo,  illuminated 

vellum,  $1.25. 

The  Story  of  the  Resurrection  Told  Once  More. 

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tion, with  Additions,      16mo,  gilt  top,  $1.00. 

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$1.00. 

Applied  Christianity.  Moral  Aspects  of  Social  Ques- 
tions.    Uniform  with  the  above.     16mo,  gilt  top,  $1.25. 

George  S.  Gray. 
Eight  Studies  of  the  Lord's  Day.      12mo,  gilt  top, 

$1.50. 


Hotighton,  Mifflin  &  Co  5 

George  Zabriskie  Gray. 
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F.  W.  Gunsaulus. 
The  Transfiguration  of  Christ.    IGmo,  gilt  top,  $1.25. 

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top,  $1.25. 

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Friends.     Crown  8vo,  gilt  top,  $2.00. 

George  Herbert  and  Henry  Vaughan. 

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Aris  WiLLMOTT.  Also,  the  Sacred  Poems  and  Private  Ejacula- 
tions of  Henry  Vaughan,  with  a  Memoir  by  Rev.  F.  Lyte. 
Crown  8vo,  gilt  top,  $1.50  ;  half  calf,  $3.00. 

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Thomas  Hughes. 

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each.    The  set,  3  vols.  $4.50 ;  half  calf,  $8.25. 

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With  Psalms.  Edited  by  George  Harris,  D.  D.,  and  William 
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inarv,  and  E.  K.  Glezen,  of  Providence.  12mo,  cloth,  $1.50; 
leather,  $1.75;  full  Persian  levant,  $5.00. 


6  Religious  Publications  of 

Henry  James. 
The  Secret  of  Swedenborg.     Being  an  Elucidation  of 

liis  Doctrine  of  the  Divine  Natural  Humauity.     8vo,  $2.50. 

Society  the  Redeemed  Form  of  Man,  and  the  Ear- 
nest OF  God's  Omnipotence  in  Human  Nature.  Affirmed  in 
Letters  to  a  Friend.     8vo,  $2.00. 

Anna  Jameson. 

Sacred  and  Legendary  Art.  With  Portrait  of  Leo 
NARDO  DA  Vinci.  New  Edition.  In  two  volumes,  1 6mo,  gilt  top, 
$2  50. 

Legends  of  the  Monastic  Orders,  as  Represented  in 
the  Fine  Arts.  Forming  the  Second  Series  of  Sacred  and  Legend- 
ary Art.     New  Edition.     16mo,  gilt  top,  $1.25. 

Legends  of  the  Madonna,  as  Represented  in  the  Fine 
Arts.     New  Edition.     16mo,  gilt  top,  $1.25. 

Samuel  Johnson. 

Oriental  Religions,  and  their  Relation  to  Univer- 
sal Religion.     By  Samuel  Johnson, 

India.     8vo,  810  pages,  $5.00. 

Samuel  Johnson's  remarkable  work  is  devoted  wholly  to  the  reli- 
gions and  civilization  of  India,  is  the  result  of  twenty  years'  study 
and  reflection  by  one  of  the  soundest  scholars  and  most  acute  think- 
ers of  New  England,  and  must  be  treated  with  all  respect,  whether 
we  consider  its  thoroughness,  its  logical  reasoning,  or  the  conclusion  — 
unacceptable  to  the  majority,  no  doubt  —  at  which  it  arrives.  —  Re- 
publican  (Springfield). 

China.     8vo,  1000  pages,  $5.00. 

Persia.  With  Introduction  by  the  Rev.  O.  B.  Frothing- 
HAM.     8vo,  829  pages,  $5.00      The  set,  3  vols,  half  calf,  $20.00. 

Lectures,  Essays,  and  Sermons.  With  a  portrait,  and 
Memoir  by  Rev.  Samuel  Longfellow.  Crown  Svo,  gilt  top, 
$1.75. 

This  volume  contains,  in  addition  to  a  Memoir  of  Mr.  Johnson  and 
other  articles,  Sermons  on  the  Law  of  the  Blessed  Life,  Gain  in  Loss, 
The  Search  for  God,  Fate,  Living  by  Eaith,  The  Duty  of  Delight, 
and  Transcendentalism. 

Thomas  Starr  Kinsf. 

Christianity  and  Humanity.  Sermons.  Edited,  with 
a  Memoir,  by  Edwin  P.  Whipple.  With  steel  portrait.  New 
Edition.     16mo,  gilt  top,  $1.50. 


Houghton,  Miffli?t  &  Co.  7 

The  KcKan. 
Selections  from  the  Koran.     By  Edward  William 

Lane.    Second  Edition,  revised  and  enlarged,  Avitli  an  Introduction 
by  Stanley  Lane  Poole.     8vo,  gilt  top,  $3.50. 
See  WiiERUY  (Uev.  E.  M.). 

Alvan  Lamson,  D.  D. 

The  Church  of  the  First  Three  Centuries  ;  or,  No- 
tices of  the  Lives  and  Opinions  of  the  Early  Fathers,  with  special 
reference  to  the  Doctrine  of  the  Trinity  ;  illustrating  its  late  origin 
and  gradual  formation.    Revised  and  enlarged  edition.    8vo,  $2.50. 

Lucy  Larcom. 

Breathings   of   the   Better   Life.     "  Little   Classic " 

style.     18mo,  $1.25;  half  calf,  $1.00. 

A  book  of  choice  selections  from  the  best  religious  writers  of  all 
times. 
Beckonings  for  Every  Day.     A  Calendar  of  Thought. 

Selected  and  edited  by  Lucy  Larco3i,  editor  of  "  Breathings  of  the 

Better  Life,"  etc.     16mo,  $2.25. 

Henry  C.  Lea. 
Sacerdotal    Celibacy    in    the   Christian   Church. 

Second  Edition,  considerably  enlarged.     Svo,  $4.50. 
One  of  the  most  valuable  works  that  America  has  produced.  —  W. 
E.  H.  Lecky,  in  History  of  European  Morals. 

Samuel  Longfellow  and  Samuel  Johnson. 

Hymns  of  the  Spirit.     16mo,  roan,  $L25. 
A  collection  of  remarkable  excellence. 

Henry  Wadsworth  Longfellow. 

Christus.  a  Mystery.  Comprising  The  Divine  Trag- 
edy, The  Golden  Legend,  and  The  New  England  Tragedies. 
Cabinet  Edition,  16mo,  $1.00  ;  Household  Edition,  illustrated,  $1.75. 

William  Mountford. 

EuTHANASY;  OF,  Happy  Talk  towards  the   End  of  Life. 

New  Edition.     12mo,  gilt  top,  $2.00. 

Rev.  T.  Mozley. 

Reminiscences,  chiefly  of  Oiiel  College  and  the  Oxford 

Movement.     2  vols.  16tno,  $3.00  ;  half  calf,  $5.00. 
Many  before  now  —  Oakley,    Froude,   Kennard,    not   to   mention 
Newman  himself  —  have  contributed  to  the  story  of  the  Tractarian 


8  Religions  Ptiblications  of 

Movement.  None  of  these,  not  even  the  famous  Apologia,  will  com. 
])are  with  the  volumes  r.ow  before  us  in  respect  to  minute  fullness, 
close  personal  observation,  aud  characteristic  touches.  —  Professor 
Pattison,  in  The  Acadeimj  (London). 

Ellsha  Mulford,  LL.  D. 
The  Republic  of  God.     8vo,  $2.00. 

A  book  which  will  not  be  mastered  by  hasty  readinfr,  nor  by  a  co'^1, 
scientific  dissection.  We  do  not  rcn)ember  that  this  country  has 
lately  produced  a  speculative  work  of  more  originality  aud  force.  .  .  . 
The  book  is  a  noble  one  —  broad-minded,  deep,  breathing  forth  an 
ever-present  consciousness  of  things  unseen.  It  is  a  mental  and  moral 
tonic  which  might  do  us  all  good.  —  The  Critic  (New  York). 

No  book  on  the  statement  of  the  great  truths  of  Christianity,  at 
once  so  fresh,  so  clear,  so  fundamental,  and  so  fully  grasping  and 
solving  the  religious  problems  of  our  time,  has  yet  been  written  by 
any  American.  —  Advertiser  (Boston). 

It  is  the  most  important  contribution  to  theological  literature  thus 
iir  made  by  any  American  writer.  —  The  Churchman  (New  York). 

Rev.  T.  T.  Munger. 

The  Freedom  of  Faith.  Sermons.  With  PrefatCi-y 
Essay  on  "  The  New  Theology."     16mo,  $1.50. 

On  the  Threshold.  Familiar  Lectures  to  young  peo- 
ple on  Purpose,  Friends  and  Companions,  Manners,  Thrift,  Self- 
Heliance,  etc.     16mo,  gilt  top,  $1.00. 

Lamps  and  Paths.     Sermons  for  Children.     16mo,  gilt 

top,  $1,00. 

The  Appeal  to  Life.     Sermons.     16mo,  gilt  top,  $1.50. 

J.  A.  W.  Neander. 

General  History  of  the  Christian  Religion  and 
Church.  Translated  from  the  German  by  Rev.  Joseph  Torrey, 
Professor  in  the  University  of  Vermont.  With  an  Index  volume. 
The  set,  with  Index,  6  vols.,  $20.00.   Index  volume,  separate, $3.00. 

Illustrated  New  Testament. 
The   New  Testament   of    our    Lord    and   Saviour 

Jdsus  Christ.  AVith  engravings  on  M'ood  from  designs  of  Fra 
Angelico,  Pietro  Perugino,  Francesco  Fraiu-ia,  Lorenzo  di  Credi, 
Fra  Bartolommeo,  Titian,  Paphael,  Gaudenzio  Ferrari,  Daniele  di 
Volterra,  and  others.  Royal  4to,  full  gilt,  540  pages,  $10.00 ;  full 
morocco,  $20.00;  levant,  $25.00. 


Houghton,  Mifflin  dr  Co.  9 

Timothy  Otis  Paine,  LL.  D. 
Solomon's  Temple  and  Capitol,  Ark  of  the  Flood  and 

Tabernacle ;  or,  The  Holy  Houses  of  the  Hebrew,  Chaldee,  Syriac, 
Samaritan,  Septuagiut,  Coptic,  and  Itala  Scriptures,  Josephus, 
Talmud,  and  Kabbis.  With  42  full-page  Plates  and  120  Text- 
Cuts,  from  drawings  by  the  author.  In  four  parts,  folio,  each  $5.00. 
{Sold  by  subscription.) 

Rev.  Leighton  Parks. 
His  Star  in  the  East.     A  Study  in  the  Early  Aryan  Re- 
ligions.   Crown  8vo,  gilt  top,  $1.50. 

Blaise  Pascal. 

Thoughts,  Letters,  and  Opuscules.  Translated  from 
the  French  by  0.  W.  Wight,  A.  M.,  with  Introductory  Notices 
and  Notes.     12mo,  $2.25. 

Provincial  Letters.  A  new  Translation,  with  Histori- 
cal Introduction  and  Notes,  by  Rev.  Thomas  McCrie,  preceded 
by  a  Life  of  Pascal,  a  Critical  Essay,  and  a  Biographical  Notice. 
12mo,  $2.25 ;  the  set,  2  vols,  half  calf,  $7.00. 

Elizabeth  Stuart  Phelps. 
The  Gates  Ajar.     70th  thousand.     16mo,  $1.50. 
Beyond  the  Gates.     24th  thousand.    16mo,  $1.25. 
The  Gates  Between.     16mo,  $L25. 
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McCosH,  Rev.  Phillips  Brooks,  President  Porter,  of  Yale, 
etc.     12mo,  $1.50. 

Prayers  of  the  Ages. 
Prayers    of   the    Ages.      Compiled  by   Caroline    S. 
WiiiTMARSH,  one  of  the  editors  of  "  Hymns  of  the  Ages."     16mo, 
$1.50. 

Rev.  James  Reed. 
Swedenborg  and  the  New  Church.     16mo,  gilt  top, 

$1.25. 

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lO  Religions  Publications  of 

E.  Reuss. 

History  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament. By  Eduard  (Wilhelm  Eugen)  Reuss,  Professor  Ordi- 
narius  in  the  Evangelical  Theological  Faculty  of  the  Emperor 
William's  University,  Strassburg,  Germany.  Translated,  •with  nu- 
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